How do environmental characteristics at intersections change in their relevance for drivers before entering an intersection: analysis of drivers’ gaze and driving behavior in a driving simulator study
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2014
Abstract Accident studies in Germany found that in
about 90 % of intersection accidents, failure to acquire the
relevant information of the driving situation was the main
reason for drivers’ errors (Vollrath et al. in Ableitung von
Anforderungen an Fahrerassistenzsysteme aus Sicht der
Verkehrssicherheit. Wirtschaftsverlag NW, Bremerhaven,
2006). Studies of bicycle–car accidents assume that
improper attention allocation strategies and unjustified
expectations by drivers are important for this kind of error
(Ra¨sa¨nen and Summala in Accid Anal Prev 30:657–666,
1998). Aim of the study was to examine the psychological
processes of drivers’ attention allocation and driving
behavior in different intersection situations varied by two
environmental characteristics. A give way T-intersection
was varied by (1) low and high traffic density of oncoming
cars from the left and (2) number of task-relevant information
areas (in addition to the oncoming cars from the left
with or without pedestrians on the right). It was examined
how these environmental characteristics change in their
relevance for drivers while entering the intersections. The
analysis was conducted in three intersection epochs
(Approaching, Waiting, Accelerating). A total of 40 subjects
(26 male, 14 female), ranged in age from 19 to
55 years (M = 31.0 years), participated in the study. The
results showed that drivers’ attention allocation (e.g., mean
gaze duration) and driving behavior (e.g., waiting time)
systematically depends on these environmental characteristics
which require different actions of the driver and
change in their relevance when entering an intersection.
The results support the idea of attention allocation strategies
by drivers which are specific for certain driving situations.
These findings can support approaches of driver
modeling at intersections.
T-intersection
Intersection accident
Pedestrians
SEEV model
Human error
Traffic density
Visual scanning strategy