Citation

Li X, Vaezipour A, Rakotonirainy A, Demmel S. Accid. Anal. Prev. 2019; 122: 143-152.

Affiliation

Center for Accident Research and Road Safety-Queensland (CARRS-Q), Queensland University of Technology, 130 Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, Queensland, 4059, Australia; Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI), Queensland University of Technology, 60 Musk Avenue, Kelvin Grove, 4059, Australia. Electronic address: sebastien.demmel@qut.edu.au.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.aap.2018.10.007

PMID

30384084

Abstract

We have designed a new in-vehicle eco-safe driving system and shown its effectiveness in prompting drivers to execute a fuel-saving and safe driving style (Vaezipour et al., 2018, submitted for publication). However, the system could also bring potential negative outcomes, i.e. driver distraction. This simulator study investigated drivers' glance behaviours as indicators of driver distraction when using our Eco-Safe Human-Machine-Interface (HMI). Four types of eco-safe information display conditions (baseline, advice only, feedback only, both advice and feedback) were tested on different traffic situations with varied road traffic complexity.

RESULTS showed that the eco-safe HMI system did not cause visual distraction. In contrast, the advice only or feedback only information improved forward gazing on the roadway. In addition, drivers tended to adapt their visual scanning strategies according to the traffic situations. In the car-following situation they paid longer glances to the forward roadway, while in the intersections they spent more time to look at the HMI system. The findings indicated that our eco-safe driving system improved drivers' eco-safe behaviours and meanwhile enhanced their visual attention on road while no evidence showed that drivers were distracted by it.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Driver distraction; Eco-safe driving; Glance behaviour; In-vehicle HMI; Traffic situation