Occurrence of secondary tasks and quality of lane changes

Abstract

Methods to assess driving degradation due to driver distraction are currently discussed and defined by international standardization groups. A simulator experiment involving 17 participants was conducted to assess the reliability and relevance of one of these methods (Lane Change Test) to discriminate between secondary tasks. In addition to varying age groups, vehicles and secondary tasks, the protocol was also varied to assess the impact of the instruction occurrence and its possible conflict with primary task performance. Results show the limitations of the main parameter proposed by the method (lateral deviation) and question the reliability of the method in its current form. Additional indicators seem necessary to make sense of the respective impact of the varied conditions. Surprisingly, the impact of the instruction occurrence is very limited, apparently because individual strategies have more impact than situations differences. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.