Can Intermittent Video Sampling Capture Individual Differences in Naturalistic Driving?

We examined the utility and validity of intermittent video samples from black box devices for capturing individual difference variability in real-world driving performance in an ongoing study of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and community controls. Three types of video clips were coded for several dimensions of interest to driving research including safety, exposure, and driver state. The preliminary findings indicated that clip types successfully captured variability along targeted dimensions such as highway vs. city driving, driver state such as distraction and sleepiness, and safety. Sleepiness metrics were meaningfully associated with adherence to PAP (positive airway pressure) therapy. OSA patients who were PAP adherent showed less sleepiness and less non-driving related gaze movements than nonadherent patients. Simple differences in sleepiness did not readily translate to improvements in driver safety, consistent with epidemiologic evidence to date.