Driving Simulators - Serious Tools or Frivolous Toys? Part 2 — A Panel Discussion Session Overview

An article in the July, 1992 issue of the HFS Bulletin described the development of one of the world's newest and most sophisticated driving simulators, the proposed National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS) to be located at the University of Iowa. In the December, 1 9 9 2 issue of the Bulletin, a letter to the editor by Leonard Evans criticized the article, because, in Dr. Evans' opinion, it added to the literature on the technology of simulation, but continued the unfortunate tradition of a lack of substantive research results obtained from simulation. Evans said: . . . the community of scholars who have actually studied driver behavior is confident that (the simulator) will make little contribution to better understanding of driver behavior or traffic crashes." Other writers have taken positions similar to that of Dr. Evans. For example, in an interview for an article in Heavv Dutv Truckinq, Brian O'Neill, the President of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, described NADS as a "waste of taxpayers' money." This debate, which has raged for many years, continues to be joined by others, primarily in print.