GET EDUCATED
FIGHT ROAD RAGE
GEARUP
SMARTPHONE PARENT-TAUGHT
VR ROAD RAGE ED SIMULATIONS APP
Parents interact with and educate student drivers through the Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’ VR simulation game app to prevent road rage and cope with aggressive driving situations, allowing the drivers to make better decisions.
PURPOSE OF EXHIBITION
Driving for the first time is a thrilling experience unlocking a new chapter in life. Nevertheless, young drivers also report higher car accident rates than other age groups. Parental intervention plays a significant role in effectively educating young motorists. Unfortunately, parents often lack the knowledge and resources to educate adolescent motorists about psychological and environmental factors to consider while driving. Therefore, this researcher explores an interactive, educational, and design-centric solution that enables parents to teach young drivers to help student drivers develop healthy driving habits and contribute to a safer road environment with the assistance of their parents.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Almost
Adolescents died in motor vehicle crashes in 2019.
CDC report Teen Drivers:
Get the Facts 2019
$4.8
the total medical & work-loss costs
resulting from deaths by car crashes of adolescents
BILLION
CDC report Teen Drivers:
Get the Facts 2019
Parents played a more significant role in young driver’s education
However,
parents do not have
the appropriate tools to educate student drivers about ROAD RAGE
(Parent-Taught Driver Education in Texas: A Comparative Evaluation, 23; Ginsburg et al. 1041; Graham and Gootman, S253)
2,400
Although North Americans drove less in 2020 than in other years due to the pandemic, an estimated 38,680 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes. Among them, teenage drivers report higher car accident rates than older age groups and more experienced drivers (NHTSA, “Early Estimates of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities and Fatality Rate by Sub-Categories in 2020” 1–10). One reason for car crashes in adolescent motorists is aggressive driving behavior. (Kelsey and Sperry, 955–56). Kelsey and Sperry define road rage as an extreme form of angry or aggressive behavior by a driver of a car or other road vehicle. It involves tailgating, speeding, cutting off another car, making rude gestures and verbal reaction, hitting other vehicles, chasing others’ cars, and intentionally driving in an unsafe and threatening manner. In the worst case, road rage can result in death (955–56).
According to Smart et al., adolescence is a time to form appropriate driving behavior, as exposure to road rage prompts adolescent drivers to engage in more aggressive driving behavior. Student drivers need education on preventing road rage (e.g., coping methods; 281). Young drivers whose parents played a more significant role in their driver’s education were less aggressive and less associated with car accidents. (Lambert-Bélanger et al.; Pezoldt et al.; Farmer et al.). However, Parent-Taught Driver Education in Texas: A Comparative Evaluation notes that parents do not receive sufficient information and resources to educate young drivers about road rage (23).
Moreover, many studies have shown that existing education for coping with road rage is not adequate to change driver behavior and too short and inefficient to impact student drivers (Poulter et al, 164). Nevertheless, these online courses guarantee acceptance, and society supports them (O’Neill, 67). In addition, traditional driver’s education and passive memorization of information do not support the development of the brain’s cognitive abilities (e.g., effective thinking and judgment habits; Crawford, 14). Teenagers require more time to understand and acquire the skills to recognize dangerous driving situations (Steinberg, 73).