Influence of Smartphone Apps with Driving Safety Related Diagnosis Functions on Expressway Driving Speed Changes
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 144, Issue 1
Abstract
An increasing number of smartphone apps with driving safety diagnosis functions have been developed in the market; however, empirical evidence on whether these apps are actually effective in promoting road safety or not is limited. This study examines how the use of a global positioning system (GPS)-enabled smartphone app with driving safety related diagnosis affects changes in driving behaviors on expressways. The app was developed by the authors as a simplified diagnosis tool using only GPS information. The app can measure three types of driving safety related indicators second by second, i.e., speed limit compliance, acceleration/deceleration, and driving stability, in addition to a set of subjective driving safety related indicators. This study used 187,549 epochs () as the analysis unit, collected from 15 drivers who made 201 trips during a three-month driving experiment on expressways in the western part of Japan in 2014. To account for the influence of drivers’ unobserved heterogeneity in driving speed control behavior, this study built a multilevel ordered probit model. Model estimation results confirmed that, during a three-month period, using the app contributes to less dangerous driving as measured by compliance level with the speed limit; however, its effects on acceleration/deceleration and driving stability were limited. The effects of some additional functions of the app on improvement in driving safety related performance were mixed. Finally, it was revealed that drivers’ heterogeneous driving propensity is significantly influential to actual driving safety related performance.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by a joint research between Hiroshima University and the Chugoku Regional Branch, West Nippon Expressway Company Limited (West NEXCO), Japan, conducted in 2012, and a Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (No. 15H0227; April 2015–March 2019; Principle researcher: Junyi Zhang, Hiroshima University).
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Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 144 • Issue 1 • January 2018
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 11, 2016
Accepted: Jun 23, 2017
Published online: Nov 15, 2017
Published in print: Jan 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Apr 15, 2018
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