Driver's experience and behavioral patterns through the observation of commercial vehicle driving

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to investigate the driver's experience of commercial vehicle driving. This activity analysis was performed to account for anything that a person does in the cabin. The main user activities were classified into three groups; critical, significant and moderate. The user activities were also analyzed with respect to ergonomic approaches such as using an ergonomic checklist and an expert evaluation. The evaluation results showed that there was not enough space among the seat control buttons. In addition, the center console lacked storage facilities compared to the occupied space. The observation of behavioral patterns was conducted to guide an observer though the user environment. A total of 11 commercial vehicle drivers were recruited for this study. The 17 representative behavioral patterns were defined in terms of the frequency and severity of events. By taking advantage of observations, a variety of recommendations could be made from the user-centric perspective. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.