Citation

Schiro J, Loslever P, Gabrielli F, Pudlo P. Ergonomics 2014; 58(3): 394-410.

Affiliation

a Laboratory of Industrial and Human Automation Control, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, Valenciennes University , Le Mont Houy, Valenciennes Cedex 9, F-59313 Valenciennes , France.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/00140139.2014.978899

PMID

25403474

Abstract

This paper describes an experimental study focusing onto the way drivers use the steering wheel while performing a 2D tracking task. The stimulus during this task was a steering wheel angle signal recorded in real situations involving turns and straight lines performed at about 30 km/h. The hand positions of 20 volunteers were recorded in 6 steering scenarios involving 7 road geometries using a 3D motion capture system. The hand movement data were analysed via a descriptive/inferential procedure: each hand was considered using nine indicators - eight membership value averages linked to eight fuzzy angle windows and a frequency value related to the off steering wheel position - while the indicators were investigated using multiple correspondence analysis and non-parametric global and post-hoc tests.

RESULTS showed that inter-individual differences were larger than intra-individual differences. Considering 2 × 9 = 18 windows, the inter-individual differences mainly appeared during two main kinds of steering hand strategies: with versus without crossing hands, the latter being the most often used (17 among 20 participants). The intra-individual data showed that some drivers maintained a nearly identical strategy for all road geometries, while other drivers changed their hand position with the direction and/or maximum angle value of the turn.

Language: en