Citation

Cvahte Ojsteršek T, Babic D, Areh I, Babić D, Topolšek D. Transp. Res. F Traffic Psychol. Behav. 2023; 97: 44-58.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.trf.2023.07.001

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Distractions to the driving process, whether inside or outside of the vehicle, are becoming an increasing problem, especially distractions that are voluntary in nature which are avoidable but seem to be prevalent on our streets. A research gap was identified in the lack of comparability of in-vehicle distraction influences on drivers' visual attention. The paper presents research on the effects of in-vehicle distractions on drivers' visual attention, which was performed with 23 participants in a real environment (test track) during normal traffic conditions. The drivers were subjected to 15 in-vehicle distractions, including mobile phone use (handheld and hands-free), finding items inside the vehicle, and controlling and managing various in-vehicle systems. All distractions caused a significant reduction in visual attention to driving-related areas, including tasks such as setting the climate control or radio frequency, which are generally not perceived as disruptions. In fact, setting the climate control, navigational system, and radio frequency diverted visual attention for more than 40 % of the whole task duration. All tasks caused a reduction in the variability of gaze direction onto the windshield, indicating an occurrence of vision tunnelling, which was again very prominent even with tasks that are usually not perceived as very distracting, such as adjusting the side mirrors. The results, therefore, show that in-vehicle tasks that are voluntary in nature may significantly affect drivers' visual attention, and this is not limited to mobile phone and entertainment system use.

Language: en

Keywords

Distraction; Driving; Eye tracking; In-vehicle; Visual attention