Fabius Steinberger

BSc Media Informatics; BSc(Hons) Technology Management; MSc Human-Computer Interaction, LMU and CDTM Munich

Designing Digital Devices to Foster Safer Driving Behaviours in Young Males

Consumer electronics such as mobile and wearable devices increasingly find their way into cars and are mostly demonised by the road safety communities. This study investigates how these technologies can be leveraged and re-contextualised as a road safety tool rather than a road safety threat. The concept involves using smartphones, head-up displays, and other digital devices:
a) as a readily available and lightweight sensing platform, and;
b) to run apps that provide safe driving stimuli.

The largest demographic segment involved in car crashes are young males, and young males typically score highly in sensation seeking behaviours. Perhaps lesser known are the following facts: young males are also more prone to being bored, which is a hard-wired personality factor that cannot be changed; and sensation seeking and boredom proneness are directly correlated.

A lack of stimulation while driving can lead particularly young males to feeling bored, and this feeling may then trigger the seeking of sensations (e.g. speeding) or distractions (e.g. mobile phone use), which in turn can lead to accidents. Added workload and over-stimulation have received extensive attention in the road safety context, whereas underload and boredom have not. This leads to the question: how can digital devices be leveraged to design safe driving stimuli that replace risky driving behaviours in young males?

Overall, the aims of this research are to design and develop interventions that re-engage drivers in the driving task, in particular young males during mundane driving situations so that they do not become bored (potentially preventing passive risk-taking); and that encourage safe driving practices more actively by making them more fun and rewarding. In pursuit of this, the study leverages digital devices, as well as augmented reality and gamification. Insights gained from this study could potentially influence the future design of automotive user interfaces and reduce risky driving behaviours in young males.

Biography

Fabius Steinberger is a PhD candidate with the Urban Informatics Research Lab and the Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS­-Q). He received his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from University of Munich (LMU) focussing on media informatics and human-computer interaction. Additionally, he received an Honours Degree in Technology Management from the Center for Digital Technologies and Management Munich (CDTM) and completed a research internship at the Urban Informatics Research Lab at Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

Email: fabius.steinberger@qut.edu.au

Eprints: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Steinberger,_Fabius.html