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A Critical View of Driver Behavior Models: What Do We Know, What Should We Do?

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Book cover Human Behavior and Traffic Safety

Abstract

There appears to be a lack of new ideas in driver behavior modeling. Although behavioral research is under some pressure, it seems too facile to attribute this deplorable state of affairs only to a lack of research funds. In my opinion the causal chain may well run in the opposite direction. An analysis of what is wrong has led me to the conclusion that human factors research in the area of driver behavior has hardly been touched by the “cognitive revolution” that swept psychology in the past fifteen years. A more cognitive approach might seem advisable and the “promise of progress” of such an approach should be assessed.

The past twenty years have, of course, given us many insights that will remain applicable, provided they can be made to fit a cognitive frame of reference. The major categories of models of the past two decades are reviewed in order to pinpoint their strengths—and perhaps their weaknesses—in that framework. This review includes such models as McKnight & Adams’ task analysis, Kidd & Laughery’s early behavioral computer simulations, the linear control models (such as McRuer & Weir’s), as well as some more recent concepts such as Näätänen & Summala’s, Wilde’s and Fuller’s risk coping models which already carry some cognitive weight.

What can we take from these conceptualizations of driver behavior and what is it that they are lacking thus far? Having proposed my answers to these questions an attempt is made to formulate an alternative approach, based on production systems as developed by J.R. Anderson.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Groningen, The Netherlands

    John A. Michon

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  1. John A. Michon
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  1. General Motors Research Laboratories, Warren, Michigan, USA

    Leonard Evans  & Richard C. Schwing  & 

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Michon, J.A. (1985). A Critical View of Driver Behavior Models: What Do We Know, What Should We Do?. In: Evans, L., Schwing, R.C. (eds) Human Behavior and Traffic Safety. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2173-6_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2173-6_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9280-7

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