An Analysis of the Effect of Roadway Design on Driver’s Workload
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3846/1822-427X.2009.4.45-53Keywords:
road safety, road design, visual behavior, mental workload, instrumented vehicle, image analysisAbstract
Driving behaviour is a direct consequence of the stimuli received from the road infrastructure, from the surrounding environment and from the atmosphere inside the vehicle. Almost all of these perceptions, which affect steering, are received through the drivers’ eyes. For this reason, in this paper visual behaviour was examined in order to deduce new indexes connected to mental workload. To this aim, a consistent sample of drivers covered a rural road inside a vehicle, while their eye movements and driving activities were being recorded with suitable instruments. The quantification of some variables involved in the trials permitted the evaluation of visual behaviour and determination of a measure of mental workload, identifying also any situations where performance was compromised. Some reports between mental workload and road geometry, summarized in a few tables, could represent a further aid for road designers and managers.
References
Antov, D.; Rõivas, T.; Rõuk, H. 2007. Investigating drivers’ behaviour at non-signalised pedestrian crossings, The Baltic Journal of Road and Bridge Engineering 2(3): 111–118.
Bosurgi, G.; D’Andrea, A.; Pellegrino, O. 2005. A methodology to study driving behaviour based on the visual activity [CD-ROM], in Transportation Research Board (TRB) 84rd Annual Meeting: compendium of papers. 9–13 January, 2005, Washington DC, USA. Washington DC: Transportation Research Board.
Bosurgi, G.; D’Andrea, A.; Pellegrino, O. 2007. Driver behaviour analysed by image analysis, Human Factors Issues in Complex System Performance. Ed. by de Waard, D.; Hockey, G. R. J.; Nickel, P.; Brookhuis, K. A. Maastricht, the Netherlands: Shaker Publishing, 1–7.
Bosurgi, G.; D’Andrea, A.; Pellegrino, O. 2004a. Visual complexity in traffic as indicated by image analysis, Human Factors in Design. Ed. by de Waard, D.; Brookhuis, K. A.; Weikert, C. M. Maastricht, the Netherlands: Shaker Publishing, 321–328.
Bosurgi, G.; D’Andrea, A.; Pellegrino, O. 2004b. Visual load index in roads [CD-ROM], in Transportation Research Board (TRB) 83th Annual Meeting: compendium of papers. 11–15 Jan, 2004, Washington DC, USA. Washington DC: Transportation Research Board.
Brauers, W. K. M.; Zavadskas, E. K.; Peldschus, F.; Turskis, Z. 2008. Multi-objective decision-making for road design, Transport 23(3): 183–193. DOI: 10.3846/1648-4142.2008.23.183-193
Donges, E. 1978. A two-level model of driver steering behaviour, Human Factors 20: 691–707.
Eggemeier, F. T.; Wilson, G. F.; Kramer, A. F.; Damos, D. L. 1991. Workload assessment in multi-task environments, in Multiple-task performance. Ed. by Damos, D. L. 1st edition. London: Taylor & Francis, 207–216.
French, D.; West, R.; Elander, J.; Wilding, J. M. 1993. Decisionmaking style, driving style and self-reported involvement in road traffic accidents, Ergonomics 36(6): 627–644.
Gonzales, R. C.; Woods, R. E. 2007. Digital image processing. 3nd edition. New York: Prentice Hall. 976 p. ISBN 013168728X.
Green, P. 2004. Driver distraction, telematics design, and workload managers: safety issues and solutions. SAE Paper No. 2004-21-0022.
Guhe, M.; Liao, W.; Zhu, Z.; Ji, Q.; Gray, W. D.; Schoelles, M. J. 2005. Non-intrusive measurement of workload in real-time [on-line] [CD-ROM], in Proc of the 49th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. 26–30 September, 2005, Orlando, Florida, USA. Human Factors & Ergonomics Society. ISBN-10:094528926X. Available from Internet: <http://markusguhe.net/prof/publications/GuheLZJGS_HFES_2005.pdf>.
Hughes, P. K.; Cole, B. L. 1988. The effect of attentional demand on eye movement behaviour when driving, in Vision in vehicles-II. Ed. by Gale, A. G.; Freeman, M. H.; Haslegrave, C. M.; Smith, P.; Taylor, S. P. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 221–230. ISBN-10: 044470423X 428 p.
Land, M. F. 1992. Predictable eye-head coordination during driving, Nature 359(6393): 318–320.
Land, M. F. 2006. Eye movements and the control of actions in everyday life, Progress in Retinal and Eye Research 25(3): 296–324. DOI: 10.1016/j/preteyeres.2006.01.002
Meijman, T. F.; O’Hanlon, J. F. 1984. Workload. An introduction to psychological theories and measurement methods, in Handbook of Work and Organizational Psychology. Ed. by Drenth, P. J. D.; Thierry, H.; Willems, P. J.; de Wolff, C. J. 1st edition. New York: Wiley, 257–288.
O’Donnell, R. D.; Eggemeier, F. T. 1986. Workload assessment methodology, in Handbook of Perception and Human Performance, vol 2, Cognitive Processes and Performance. Ed. by Boff, K. R.; Kaufman, L.; Thomas, J. P. 1st edition. New York: Wiley, 42:1–42:9. ISBN 0471885444.
Patten, C. J. D.; Kircher, A.; Ostlund, J.; Nilsson, L.; Svenson, O. 2006. Driver experience and cognitive workload in different traffic environments, Accident Analysis and Prevention 38(5): 887–894. DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2006.02.014
Rubio, S.; Diaz, E.; Martin, J.; Puente, J. M. 2004. Evaluation of subjective mental workload: a comparison of SWAT, NASATLX, and workload profile methods, Applied Psychology: an International Review 53(1): 61–86. DOI: 10.1111/j.1464-0597.2004.00161.x
de Waard, D. 1996. The measurement of drivers’ mental workload. PhD thesis. University of Groningen. Haren, The Netherlands: University of Groningen. 135 p.
Wickens, C. D. 2002. Situation awareness and workload in aviation, Current Directions in Psychological Science 11(4): 128–133.
Wickens, C. D.; Hollands, J. G. 1999. Engineering psychology and human performance. 3rd edition. Prentice Hall. ISBN-10: 0321047117. 573 p.
Zariņš, A. 2006. The dynamic approach to evaluation of visual road image, The Baltic Journal of Road and Bridge Engineering 1(2): 109–114.
Zijlstra, F.; Mulder, G. 1989. Mentale belasting: theoretische gezichtspunten en overzicht van meetmethoden [Mental workload: theoretical points-of-view and an overview of measurement methods], in Mentale Belasting en Werkstress. Een arbeidspsychologische Benadering [Mental and workload stress. A psychological approach.]. Ed. by Meijman, T. Assen, The Netherlands: Van Gorcum, 21–41.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2009 Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) Press Technika
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
