Review of driving performance parameters critical for distracted driving research

While driving simulators allow for the examination of a range of driving performance measures in a controlled, relatively realistic and safe driving environment, driver distraction is a multidimensional phenomenon which means that no single driving performance measure can capture all effects of distraction. Furthermore, the large number of driving related outcomes each simulator provides, indicates that the decision regarding which measure or set of measures is used should be guided by specific criteria. The objective of this paper is a comprehensive review of driving performance parameters critical for distracted driving research. For this purpose an extended literature review took place in order to investigate the critical parameters which are examined in the scientific field of driver distraction. Firstly, all driving performance parameters examined in driving simulator experiments are identified and analysed including lateral control, longitudinal control, reaction time, gap acceptance, eye movement and workload measures, while a list of the most common driving simulator dependent variables is cited. Subsequently, a thorough literature review is carried out including 42 studies examining driver distraction through driving simulator experiments which were published in scientific journals, concern recent research and report quantitative results. In this framework, the respective driving performance measures are recorder aiming to investigate which and how they are analysed. A basic remark concerns the quantitative measures used to express driver distraction. In most cases, driver distraction is measured in terms of its impact to driver attention, driver behaviour and driver accident risk. It is noted that the specific measures used vary significantly. However, the diversity in the measures used, in combination with the diversity in the design of the experiments (i.e. road and traffic factors examined, number and duration of trials) often complicates the synthesis of the results, especially for the less commonly examined distraction factors. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.