Games for traffic education: An experimental study of a game-based driving simulator

Abstract

In this article, the authors report on the construction and evaluation of a game-based driving simulator using a real car as a joystick. The simulator is constructed from off-the-shelf hardware and the simulation runs on open-source software. The feasibility of the simulator as a learning tool has been experimentally evaluated. Results are reported from an experimental study of games and traffic safety performed in an advanced gaming environment. During car simulator sessions, the authors collected data about different traffic safety variables, such as speed, headway distance, and lane change behavior, from 70 participants. The data were analyzed to investigate possible individual learning effects and differences between groupings of participants. The experiment shows clear, positive, individual learning effects for all traffic safety variables analyzed. The authors also made a qualitative analysis of the participants’ perception of the simulator as a learning tool. From the results, it is concluded that a game-based simulation can be used to enhance learning in driving education.