{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,13]],"date-time":"2026-06-13T04:58:44Z","timestamp":1781326724515,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780876800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Danan Bus Company, Ltd","award":["DB-IACP-526"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DB-IACP-526"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study proposes a human-centered multimodal framework for characterizing safety-relevant driver functional domains in professional bus drivers. Unlike conventional approaches that rely on isolated psychological or physical assessments, the proposed framework integrates self-perception, psychomotor performance, and cognitive\u2013perceptual assessment to provide an exploratory, structured characterization of driver-related functional capacities. Eighteen professional bus drivers participated in this study. Self-perception data were obtained from all 18 participants, whereas psychomotor and cognitive\u2013perceptual assessments were completed by 16 participants. These measurements were used to examine multiple domains relevant to driving safety, including behavioral awareness, motor coordination, attention, visual tracking, and hazard-perception-related processing. Given the modest sample size, the study should be regarded as an exploratory pilot investigation. Data were analyzed using a laboratory-based cross-sectional between-subjects design to examine age- and gender-related differences across the assessed domains. The findings suggested that selected age- and gender-related differences and descriptive tendencies were observable across multiple domains. Male drivers descriptively showed higher self-rating scores, female drivers showed different performance tendencies in selected psychomotor tasks, and male drivers demonstrated substantially greater grip strength. Older drivers showed slower and less efficient performance in several cognitive\u2013perceptual measures, with the clearest age-related effect observed in the tachistoscopic traffic test, where older participants showed a higher error tendency under time-constrained traffic-scene processing conditions. The constructs and measures proposed in this study are intended as general laboratory-based assessments of driver-related capabilities rather than direct measures of actual driving performance, real-time driver-state indicators, or validated sensor-based monitoring indicators. As candidate human-factor constructs, they may inform future driver monitoring research by helping clarify how driver-related signals or behaviors could eventually be linked to underlying functional and safety-related meaning in intelligent transportation environments.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s26123664","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T16:25:16Z","timestamp":1780935916000},"page":"3664","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A Human-Centered Multimodal Framework for Characterizing Safety-Relevant Driver Functional Domains: An Exploratory Study of Professional Bus Drivers"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9845-6692","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ting-An","family":"Kuo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Industrial Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 10607, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5549-0527","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chiuhsiang Joe","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Industrial Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 10607, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9318-1335","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Po-Hsiang","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Industrial Management, St. John\u2019s University, New Taipei City 25135, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Aminosharieh Najafi, T., Affanni, A., Rinaldo, R., and Zontone, P. (2023). Driver Attention Assessment Using Physiological Measures from EEG, ECG, and EDA Signals. Sensors, 23.","DOI":"10.3390\/s23042039"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"474","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trf.2024.06.014","article-title":"The Association between Physiological and Eye-Tracking Metrics and Cognitive Load in Drivers: A Meta-Analysis","volume":"104","author":"Wang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Part F Traffic Psychol. Behav."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"378","DOI":"10.1038\/s41597-024-03222-2","article-title":"A Multimodal Physiological Dataset for Driving Behaviour Analysis","volume":"11","author":"Tao","year":"2024","journal-title":"Sci. Data"},{"key":"ref_4","first-page":"18042","article-title":"Real-Time Driver Monitoring System with Facial Landmark-Based Eye Closure Detection and Head Pose Recognition","volume":"13","author":"Kim","year":"2023","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"World Health Organization (WHO) (2023). Global Status Report on Road Safety 2023, WHO."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Treat, J.R. (1979). Tri-Level Study of the Causes of Traffic Accidents, Institute for Research in Public Safety, Indiana University."},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"Dewar, R.E., and Olson, P.L. (2002). Human Factors in Traffic Safety, Lawyers & Judges Publishing."},{"key":"ref_8","unstructured":"Wickens, C.D., Gordon, S.E., and Liu, Y. (1997). An Introduction to Human Factors Engineering, Addison-Wesley."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"871","DOI":"10.1016\/j.aap.2006.02.013","article-title":"Young driver accidents in the UK: The influence of age, experience, and time of day","volume":"38","author":"Clarke","year":"2006","journal-title":"Accid. Anal. Prev."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1412","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ssci.2010.06.001","article-title":"Road accidents, an occupational risk","volume":"48","author":"Fort","year":"2010","journal-title":"Saf. Sci."},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences (IATSS) (2007). Road Safety Statistics, IATSS."},{"key":"ref_12","unstructured":"Lynn, P., and Lockwood, C.R. (1998). The Accident Liability of Company Car Drivers (TRL Report 317), Transport Research Laboratory."},{"key":"ref_13","first-page":"36","article-title":"A comparison of the factors influencing the safety of work-related drivers in Australia and the UK","volume":"11","author":"Newnam","year":"2002","journal-title":"Road Transp. Res."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Broughton, J., Baughan, C.J., Pearce, L., Smith, L., and Buckle, G. (2003). Work-Related Road Accidents (TRL Report 582), Transport Research Laboratory."},{"key":"ref_15","first-page":"1","article-title":"The aging driver: An overview of problems and intervention strategies","volume":"31","author":"Bell","year":"2000","journal-title":"J. Saf. Res."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"436","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ssci.2008.05.004","article-title":"Applying online fleet driver assessment to help identify, target and reduce occupational road safety risks","volume":"47","author":"Darby","year":"2009","journal-title":"Saf. Sci."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"621","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ssci.2005.12.003","article-title":"The effects of personality and gender on risky driving behaviour and accident involvement","volume":"44","author":"Oltedal","year":"2006","journal-title":"Saf. Sci."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"227","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trf.2006.01.002","article-title":"Cross-cultural differences in driving behaviours: A comparison of six countries","volume":"9","author":"Lajunen","year":"2006","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Part F Traffic Psychol. Behav."},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"Kubinger, K.D. (2016). Adaptive testing. Handbook of Item Response Theory, Volume 3: Applications, CRC Press."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"Anastasi, A., and Urbina, S. (1997). Psychological Testing, Prentice Hall. [7th ed.]."},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"Kaplan, R.M., and Saccuzzo, D.P. (2017). Psychological Testing: Principles, Applications, and Issues, Cengage Learning. [9th ed.]."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"M203","DOI":"10.1093\/gerona\/54.4.M203","article-title":"Older drivers and cataract: Driving habits and crash risk","volume":"54","author":"Owsley","year":"1999","journal-title":"J. Gerontol. Ser. A"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"471","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trf.2012.04.002","article-title":"Changes in driver celeration behaviour over time: Do drivers learn from collisions?","volume":"15","year":"2012","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Part F"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kuo, T.-A., Lin, C.J., and Liu, B.-S. (2016, January 12\u201313). Intelligence system for evaluation the multi-dimension abilities of occupational bus driver. Proceedings of the 2016 International Conference on Advanced Materials for Science and Engineering (ICAMSE), Tainan, Taiwan.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICAMSE.2016.7840273"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kuo, T.-A., Lin, C.J., and Liu, P.-H. (2017, January 6\u20138). Evaluating Multi-dimensional Abilities of Bus Drivers. Proceedings of the Advances in Smart Vehicular Technology, Transportation, Communication and Applications (VTCA 2017), Kaohsiung, Taiwan.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-70730-3_2"},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Sann-Yi Instrument Co (2026, April 20). Product Page for Model T.K.K. 1211. Available online: http:\/\/www.sannyi.com\/JScience\/Science_Psycho_TKK1211.html."},{"key":"ref_27","unstructured":"Lafayette Instrument Company (2004). Model 58024A Automatic Mirror Tracer: User Instructions, Lafayette Instrument Company. Available online: https:\/\/lafayetteinstrument.com\/downloads\/manuals\/MAN291-58024A-forpdf-rev0.pdf."},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"Schuhfried GmbH (2007). Vienna Test System: Computerized Psychological Assessment, Schuhfried GmbH. Available online: https:\/\/delarosaresearch.com\/uploads\/Schu_catalog_VTS_3.00_2006.10_en.pdf."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/26\/12\/3664\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,13]],"date-time":"2026-06-13T04:49:14Z","timestamp":1781326154000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/26\/12\/3664"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]]},"references-count":28,"journal-issue":{"issue":"12","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6]]}},"alternative-id":["s26123664"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s26123664","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]]}}}