Drivers’ Visual Search Patterns during Overtaking Maneuvers on Freeway

Abstract

Drivers gather traffic information primarily by means of their vision. Especially during complicated maneuvers, such as overtaking, they need to perceive a variety of characteristics including the lateral and longitudinal distances with other vehicles, the speed of others vehicles, lane occupancy, and so on, to avoid crashes. The primary object of this study is to examine the appropriate visual search patterns during overtaking maneuvers on freeways. We designed a series of driving simulating experiments in which the type and speed of the leading vehicle were considered as two influential factors. One hundred and forty participants took part in the study. The participants overtook the leading vehicles just like they would usually do so, and their eye movements were collected by use of the Eye Tracker. The results show that participants' gaze durations and saccade durations followed normal distribution patterns and that saccade angles followed a log-normal distribution pattern. It was observed that the type of leading vehicle significantly impacted the drivers' gaze duration and gaze frequency. As the speed of a leading vehicle increased, subjects' saccade durations became longer and saccade angles became larger. In addition, the initial and destination lanes were found to be key areas with the highest visual allocating proportion, accounting for more than 65% of total visual allocation. Subjects tended to more frequently shift their viewpoints between the initial lane and destination lane in order to search for crucial traffic information. However, they seldom directly shifted their viewpoints between the two wing mirrors.

A probabilistic risk assessment framework considering lane-changing behavior interaction

“…According to the existed research, drivers mainly rely on vision to obtain information in the driving process [34], and they are sensitive to the relative distance and relative speed between other road users and themselves. Therefore, from the perspective of the driver, the risk that vehicle i is exposed to vehicle j in the traffic environment can be described by the driving safety field as follows:…”

Influence of Vehicle Speed on the Characteristics of Driver’s Eye Movement at a Highway Tunnel Entrance during Day and Night Conditions: A Pilot Study

“…Although some research shows that fewer accidents occur in tunnels than on open roads [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ], in general, traffic accidents in a tunnel are of greater severity in terms of injuries and deaths compared to open roads [ 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Abundant studies show that human factor is one of the most important aspects of road traffic accidents [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. Studies also show that more than 80% of the information drivers obtain while on the road is through visual perception (95% of which is dynamic information), and hence, drivers’ dynamic visual characteristics are most closely related to traffic accidents [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ].…”

Method of Setting Exit Advance Guide Signs in Highway Tunnels Based on the Driver’s Eye Movement With Markov Chains

“…To study the transition of a driver's gaze points, the participant's field of vision (FOV) is divided into several areas, the gaze point position and actual FOV area are analyzed, and the distribution characteristics of the gaze points in each area are obtained [55][56][57]. Considering that the distance sign setting is on the left or right wall of the tunnel and that the driver is in the left or right lane, the new area of interest is shown in Figure 7.…”