Crashing left vs. right: Examining navigation asymmetries using the SHRP2 naturalistic driving study data

Abstract

The magnitude of leftward bias demonstrated in pseudoneglect has been found to differ between younger and older adults in laboratory settings. The objective of this study was to examine the association between age and asymmetries in navigation in a naturalistic setting by examining the frequency of the location of impact on participants' vehicles during crashes and near crashes. The location of impact following crashes and near crashes, and participant's age and gender were retrieved from the SHRP2 NDS database, a large scale naturalistic driving study. Over the course of the study, data were collected from 3,546 participants driving in the United States of America (right-side traffic directionality), which included 1,465 crashes and 2,722 near crashes. During crashes and near crashes, irrespective of age, the location impact was most often on the front side of the participant vehicle. In contrast with results from laboratory environments, age was not associated with the location of impact during crashes and near crashes, and overall, crashes were over-represented on the left side of the vehicle compared to the right. Specifically, crashes were 1.41 times as likely to occur on the left compared to the right side of participants' vehicles. Overall, these findings inform future research that attempts to apply laboratory research, regarding asymmetry in navigation, to naturalistic settings.