Contribution of psychological studies to address current problems in motor accidents

Abstract

Although traffic accidents in Japan have been decreasing in recent years, rapid technical advances have given rise to new problems. The purpose of this paper was to discuss how psychological studies can contribute to addressing these new problems. Drivers cause accidents when their attention is distracted by mobile information devices, such as smartphones. Driver distraction, which has long been an impediment to traffic safety, has recently become a more serious problem. Driving assistance is fundamentally beneficial for drivers, but establishing coordination between human drivers and automated driving systems poses several problems, including the transition between manual driving and automated driving, as well as the increased confidence in and overreliance on the automated system. Designing a human machine interface reflecting drivers’ psychological characteristics is necessary for solving these problems. Studies focusing on the minds of drivers will be more important in the near future for automotive research and development.