Analysis of the Driver Attention under Curved Road Conditions

• Published in: Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies Vol. 12; pp. 1931 - 1949
• Main Authors: KANG, Xuejian, KIM, Wonchul, NAMGUNG, Moon, WANG, Weijie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies 2017
• Subjects: Curved Road; Driving Attention; Driving Performance; Driving Simulation System; Visual Performance
• ISSN: 1881-1124
• DOI: 10.11175/easts.12.1931

Driving around curved road is a usual task performed by many on a daily basis but the underlying influences of attention of the driver under different curve conditions largely unknown. Previous research has shown that driving performance and visual performance can be a critical component of bends analysis. However, with change of road conditions and vehicle information, there is growing competition over the attentional resources that are needed to vehicle maneuver. Here we examined how different curved roads influenced driving attention performance along a simulated curved road. Twenty-eight subjects of different ages and occupations were invited to participate in the experiment. Results showed there are clear differences on attention between the curved road groups. Under the continuous curves, drivers suffer the more complex driving environment and need to observe the more objects, scatter attention, increased the scope of observation which will increase the cognitive workload, decrease attention and UFOV.