Driver's visual attention as a function of driving experience and visibility. Using a driving simulator to explore drivers’ eye movements in day, night and rain driving

Panos Konstantopoulos, Peter Chapman, David Crundall

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    291 Citations (Scopus)
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)827–834
    JournalAccident Analysis & Prevention
    Volume42
    Issue number3 special issue: Assessing Safety with Driving Simulators
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - May 2010

    Bibliographical note

    Author's note: - This paper compared drivers’ visual scanning as a function of different visibility conditions
    and driving experience. Although these areas have been investigated in isolation the
    methodology of this study was one of the first to combine the research questions and provide
    an integrated answer. The practical implications of the paper can affect drivers’ training (for
    example the US Graduated Driving Licensing) since it provided evidence that certain driving
    attributes might be developed without exposure to dangerous driving situations like night or
    rain. On the theoretical level the paper provided some indication that certain visual scanning
    patterns might be more susceptible to top-down (goal-driven) factors than bottom-up
    (stimulus driven). Also the findings of the papers allowed the validation of a simulator and
    added extra credibility to subsequent studies that used the same apparatus (Crundall et al.,
    2012. Some hazards are more attractive than others: Drivers of varying experience respond
    differently to different types of hazard. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 45, 600-609.
    Finally, it should be mentioned that the paper was well received by the academic community,
    as it is evident for the citations up to date. There are certain discussions for international
    collaboration on this area following seminar presentations in Australia, MUARC and
    Sweden, VTI.

    Keywords

    • Driving instructors
    • Learner drivers
    • Driving simulator
    • Visual attention
    • Visibility
    • Eye movements

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