Abstract
In this paper, an Internet questionnaire survey of the general public was conducted regarding the effects of health condition detection and accident-avoidance technologies on the social acceptance of driving for patients with illnesses and the public consciousness to the traffic accident by the drivers with illnesses. The survey hypothesized that people would be more positive about the technologies if they or their acquaintances had experienced a change in physical condition while driving in the past. The subjects were 1,091 men and 409 women over 50 years old. The results suggested that even if devices that can detect sudden changes in physical condition and avoid accidents become widely available, driving by patients with illnesses that may cause sudden changes in physical condition may not be socially acceptable. On the other hand, the experience of changes in physical condition while driving by oneself or acquaintances raises the expectation of physical condition detection technology and positively influences the acceptance of driving by patients with illnesses. In addition, more than half of the general public thought the crime of the patient with illnesses will become serious if the patient who is allowed to drive on the condition that he or she wears a physical condition measuring device forgets to wear it. We believe that it is necessary to ensure safety by placing certain restrictions on vehicle start-up and/or automatically detecting changes in physical condition as soon as the driver starts driving. In conclusion, in parallel with the development of systems to support safe driving, the systems must be accepted by society. Therefore, it is necessary to consider measures to increase social acceptability for the systems.
