Stress, anger and fatigue can all negatively affect our decisions while driving. — Filepic of posed model
When a Jeep cut me off and then slowed to several notches below the speed limit, I first gasped and then gestured wildly, swearing.
These things I remember.
But a sensor I was wearing to capture my heart rate and electrical changes in my skin, along with a vehicle “black box”, revealed more: aggressive braking and accelerating, and a rapidly beating heart.
It didn’t help that it was in the middle of the workday, when I am almost always stressed.
“This one was clear that when you were a little more flustered, the driving was definitely bad,” said Dr Turuna Seecharan, an assistant professor in the engineering department of the University of Minnesota Duluth in the United States.
I should find ways to calm myself before driving to news conferences and interviews, she said, so that stress doesn’t influence my choices on the road.
Assoc Prof Seecharan and graduate student Md Sakibul Hasan Nahid are researching the role emotions like stress play in driving.
Is there a correlation?
I wore a sensor for several days to better understand the research.
My data showed that I was less stressed when I wasn’t in the middle of a workday, even if something unexpected happened on the roadway.
The study could be useful for driver training programmes, or lead to technology that warns drivers of stress levels before they get behind the wheel, Asst Prof Seecharan and Md Sakibul said, because stress, fatigue and anger can all cloud decision-making while driving.
“Just like you shouldn’t get into a car if you’re too tired or you shouldn’t get into a car if you’re drunk, it’s the same thing,” Asst Prof Seecharan said.
“Pay attention to your emotional state.”
The researchers have recorded more than 100 driving sessions for 25 drivers aged 18-30 so far.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says drivers aged 15 to 20 in the US are involved in more fatal crashes than any other group.
In 2020, motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of unintentional death for drivers between 15 and 24 in the country, according to the administration.
The data collection method the researchers used is similar to what car insurance companies use to determine how safely someone drives, but it also factors in emotional state by starting with baseline physiological data.
Braking and accelerating behaviour is gauged, and drivers submit mood data before, during and after each driving trip.
The researchers found that electrodermal activity (changes in skin from sweating) can be helpful in predicting emotional states and aggressive driving.
The more you sweat, the higher the electrodermal activity.
More physiological measures would improve research, Md Sakibul said, with mathematical models so far showing 60% to 70% accuracy in predicting how emotional arousal affects a driving score.
Ultimately, driving schools could educate young drivers on how stress and other strong emotions can affect their driving, he said, and teach them techniques to calm themselves “so they have a clear head before driving”. – By Jana Hollingsworth/The Minnesota Star Tribune/Tribune News Service
