Highway Deceleration Lane Safety: Effects of Real-Time Coaching Programs on Driving Behavior

Federico Orsini, Mariaelena Tagliabue, Giulia De Cet, Massimiliano Gastaldi and Riccardo Rossi
Additional contact information
Federico Orsini: Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy
Mariaelena Tagliabue: Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy
Giulia De Cet: Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy
Massimiliano Gastaldi: Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy
Riccardo Rossi: Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-16

Abstract: Real-time coaching programs are designed to give feedback on driving behavior to usage-based motor insurance users; they are often general purpose programs that aim to promote smooth driving. Here, we investigated the effect of different on-board real-time coaching programs on the driving behavior on highway deceleration lanes with a driving simulator experiment. The experiment was organized into two trials. The first was a baseline trial, in which participants drove without receiving any feedback; a cluster analysis was then performed to divide participants into two groups, based on their observed driving style. One month later, a second trial was carried out, with participants driving on the same path as the first trial, this time receiving contingent feedback related to their braking/acceleration behavior. Four feedback systems were tested; overall, there were eight experimental groups, depending on the clustered driving style (aggressive and defensive), feedback modality (visual and auditory), and feedback valence (positive and negative). Speed, deceleration, trajectory, and lateral control variables, collected before and onto the deceleration lane, were investigated with mixed ANOVAs, which showed that the real-time coaching programs significantly reduced speeds and maximum deceleration values, while improving lateral control. A change toward a safer exit strategy (i.e., entering the lane before starting to decelerate) was also observed in defensive drivers.

Keywords: highway safety; deceleration lane; exit ramp; real-time feedback; driving simulator; usage-based insurance; PHYD; driving behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9089/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9089/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9089-:d:614022

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().