A study of drivers' blind spot in used of eye tracking

Abstract

This study employed driving simulation and eye tracking to explore the situational perception of drivers under various weather and road conditions. This study sampled 16 subjects, all of whom were required to hold a valid driver's license. Experimentation was based on factorial design; the independent variables were weather (sunny, foggy) and road conditions (road work, pedestrians crossing the road, and balls appearing suddenly). The dependent variables included Time to First Fixation (TFF)(sec), First Fixation Duration (FFD) (sec), Total Fixation Duration (TFD) (sec), Fixation Count (FC) (frequency). Results showed that under good weather conditions, drivers are more aware of road conditions, resulting in shorter TFF with resulting higher FC and longer TFD. The influence of road conditions on TFF, FFD, TFD and FC varied according to the situation. Overall, our results demonstrated the feasibility of using eye trackers to explore the situational perception of drivers. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.