Driving Style Recognition and Road-Safety Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Reproducible Data Architecture

Abstract

Driving style, reflected in recurrent patterns of acceleration, braking, speed selection, following distance, gear use, and lane-changing behavior, plays an important role in road safety and is also associated with fuel consumption, emissions, passenger comfort, and vehicle wear. This paper presents a structured review of recent research on driving style analysis, with particular emphasis on its relationship with road-safety outcomes and risk indicators. Following a PRISMA-oriented methodology, studies published between 2015 and 2025 were identified, screened, and synthesized to examine how driving styles are defined, detected, classified, and evaluated. The review shows a clear shift toward data-driven approaches, including feature-based machine learning and representation-learning methods using support vector machines, ensemble models, convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks, and hybrid deep learning architectures. Common data sources include smartphone inertial and GNSS signals, CAN/OBD vehicle data, telematics platforms, naturalistic driving datasets, and camera-based perception systems. Safety impact is most often assessed through crashes, near-miss events, traffic conflicts, time-to-collision measures, harsh maneuvers, and composite risk scores. Across the reviewed literature, aggressive and unstable driving patterns are generally associated with reduced safety margins and increased risk, although comparability remains limited by inconsistent label definitions, heterogeneous datasets, indirect safety proxies, and varied validation protocols. The paper also proposes a reproducible database architecture linking drivers, trips, driving events, and safety events to support transparent analysis, benchmark development, and future implementation in fleet monitoring, driver feedback, and connected vehicle applications.