Development of a driving simulator for virtual experience and education on drunk driving

The aim of this study is the development of a driving simulator for the virtual experience of drunk driving and education on its dangers. Towards this end, visual effects specially designed via a real-time image generation engine were implemented in the graphic database for distorted-vision generation, space perception ability impairment, and downscaled peripheral-vision scope. A steering wheel and brake model were tuned to simulate delay in the driver’s decision making, muscular control, and perception reaction time. The simulation participant can choose the blood alcohol content (BAC) level that he/she wants to experience through a selector button in the center fascia, and can experience the dangers of drunk driving in a virtual environment. Different driving scenarios on an urban road, a rural road, and an expressway were developed for a more comprehensive experience. Each driving scenario was designed to include various visual effects and vehicle dynamics simulations of drunk driving. Through these contents, the participant can indirectly experience the physical and physiological changes that occur in the human body during drunk driving, and can develop alertness in the event of a traffic accident caused by drunk driving. An instructor monitoring and control system was developed to simultaneously control and monitor multiple driving simulators. This system can record and replay the road situation and the driving behavior of each participant, and can finally report the training result. This study is expected to contribute to prevention of traffic accidents caused by drunk driving by offering education on dangers of drunk driving in a safely controlled environment. The future work should include implementation of more realistic visual effects and vehicle dynamics simulations of drunk driving on training contents, and broad application in the field of driver training.