A Boston-based researcher is trying to establish a definitive index of stress in driving, writes Brian Byrne.
Kael Greco is a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s program in urban planning who actually doesn't like driving much. But he regularly rents a car and fits it with digital monitoring devices to measure his state of mind while driving through the traffic of Greater Boston.
The monitoring includes sensors for sweaty palms, a camera to record his facial expressions, and a GPS unit to log position and traffic conditions throughout the tests.
The computer printouts show Greco finds driving much more stressful than taking a difficult class or making a research presentation.
Greco even did a first-time skydive to help establish his personal stress level index.
Funded by Audi, Greco and the team at MIT’s Senseable City Laboratory hopes their proposed Road Frustration Index will help car designers and road engineers develop technologies to ease the tension of driving.
