Driver Eye Glance Behavior During Car Following
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U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration DOT HS 809 723 April 2004 Driver Eye Glance Behavior During Car Following This document is available to the public from the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia 22161. DISCLAIMER This publication is distributed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in the interest of information exchange. The opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Department of Transportation or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The United States Government assumes no liability for its contents or use thereof. If trade or manufacturers names or products are mentioned, it is because they are considered essential to the object of the publication and should not be construed as an endorsement. The United States Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. ii NOTE REGARDING COMPLIANCE WITH AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT SECTION 508 For the convenience of visually impaired readers of this report using text-to- speech software, additional descriptive text has been provided within the body of the report for graphical images to satisfy Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). iii Technical Report Documentation Page 1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No. DOT HS 809 723 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date Driver Eye Glance Behavior During Car Following April 2004 6. Performing Organization Code NHTSA/NVS-312 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report No. Louis Tijerina, Transportation Research Center Inc.; Frank S. Barickman and Elizabeth N. Mazzae, NHTSA 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NVS-312 Vehicle Research and Test Center 11. Contract or Grant No. P.O. Box 37 East Liberty, OH 43319 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address 13. Type of Report and Period Covered National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Final Report 400 Seventh Street, S.W. 14. Sponsoring Agency Code Washington, D.C. 20590 15. Supplementary Notes The authors wish to thank W. Riley Garrott and Michael J. Goodman of NHTSA for their technical contributions to this work. The authors also extend their thanks to Jodi Clark, Mark Gleckler, Kristi Post, Carolyn Stewart, Duane Stoltzfus, and Karin Tillman of TRC for their efforts in execution of this study. 16. Abstract This report describes research that examined driver eye glance behavior away from the road scene ahead during car following. The results were based on data collected from 60 drivers and over 6,500 miles of driving on both highways and city streets. Results indicate the conditions in car following when drivers looked away from the road ahead, the distribution of glance durations when looking away, and the distribution of where drivers looked away from the road ahead. These data provide insights into the strategies used by drivers to manage their visual resources while car following. A key finding is that drivers appear to glance away from the road scene ahead during car following when the apparent optical expansion rate is zero, regardless of range. This strategy is reasonable provided the lead vehicle does not brake suddenly. It was also found that glance durations away from the road scene ahead during car following were, on average, shorter than those reported in other studies where car following was absent. This might be interpreted to indicate that the drivers were keeping their glances away short in case the driving situation should change. 17. Key Words 18. Distribution Statement Document is available to the public from the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161 19. Security Classif. (of this report) 20. Security Classif. (of this page) 21. No. of Pages 22. Price Unclassified Unclassified 40 Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized iv TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................... vii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................viii 1.0 GENERAL INTRODUCTION........................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background...................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research Objectives.........................................................................................................1 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW OF DRIVER BEHAVIOR DURING CAR FOLLOWING 2 2.1 Driver Eye Glance Behavior Away From The Road Ahead During Car Following....... 2 2.2 Primary Visual Cues in Car Following............................................................................ 4 3.0 METHOD ........................................................................................................................... 14 3.1 TEST PARTICIPANTS................................................................................................. 14 3.2 INSTRUMENTED VEHICLE ...................................................................................... 14 3.3 TEST ROUTE AND SCHEDULE ................................................................................ 14 3.4 PROCEDURE................................................................................................................ 15 4.0 RESULTS ........................................................................................................................... 17 4.1 GLANCE DATA RESULTS......................................................................................... 17 5.0 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................ 29 6.0 REFERENCES................................................................................................................... 31 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Initial Range Versus Range Rate Upon Glance Away From the Road Ahead During Car Following Where Lead Vehicle is a Light Vehicle ............................................ 19 Figure 2. Initial Range Versus Range Rate Upon Glance Away From the Road Ahead During Car Following Where Lead Vehicle is a Heavy Truck.............................................. 19 Figure 3. Scatter Plot of Range vs. Travel Speed at Glance Away From the Road Ahead ...... 21 Figure 4. Scatter Plot of Number of Glances Away From the Road Ahead by Car Following Epoch Duration.......................................................................................................... 22 Figure 5. Distribution of Duration of Glances Away from the Road Ahead During Car Following................................................................................................................... 23 Figure 6. Distribution of Glance Durations to the Left Mirror, Current Study......................... 24 Figure 7. Distribution of Glance Durations to the Left Mirror, Rockwell Study (1988).......... 24 Figure 8. Scatter Plot of Glance Durations Away from the Road Ahead During Car Following, versus Initial Range ................................................................................................... 25 Figure 9. Scatter Plot of Glance Durations Away from the Road Ahead During Car Following versus Range Rate...................................................................................................... 25 Figure 10. Scatter Plot of Glance Durations Away During Car Following versus Travel Speed26 Figure 11. Distribution of Initial Glance Locations Away From the Road Ahead by Age Group 27 Figure 12. Distribution of Initial Glance Locations Away From the Road Ahead by Speed Regime (see text for explanation).............................................................................. 28 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Representative Closing Rates, Minimum Calculated Ranges for Direction Perception, and Associated Time-to-Collision and Time Headway Values at 68 mph and 45 mph Travel Speeds........................................................................................... 7 Table 2. Statistics on Initial Car Following Measures Upon Glance Away From Road Ahead by Age Group. ........................................................................................................... 18 vii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A study was undertaken to characterize driver eye glance behavior during car following. Participants drove an instrumented vehicle unaccompanied on public roads that included high speed highways as well as surface streets. The drivers were paid to participate in the study and had no time pressures placed on them. The data obtained represent a baseline database of what might be termed ‘safety -ideal’ eye glance behavior during car following. Key findings are summarized below. There is remarkable consistency in the strategy with which drivers looked away from the road ahead during car following. Simply put, they generally looked away when the range rate was effectively zero. They did not, in general, appear to take range or time headway into account to any substantial