Estimating Crash Risk

Naturalistic driving research involves the instrumentation of vehicles, including video cameras, for the purpose of precisely recording participants as they normally drive as well as in the seconds leading up to crashes and near-crashes. The results provide new insight into driver behavior and performance that cannot be gained through traditional empirical approaches. Naturalistic driving studies provide context of the overall driving environment, information that is absent from other methods. This article highlights how results from naturalistic driving research have reshaped our understanding of driver behavior and crash risk, including the fact that some findings are contrary to results from other empirical approaches. © 2011 by Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.