MEASURING DIVIDED-ATTENTION CAPABILITY OF YOUNG AND OLDER DRIVERS

A divided-attention task was used to measure the ability of young and older drivers to obtain information from an in-vehicle display. Performance with the in-vehicle display was compared with performance with information superimposed on the driving scene. Ten young and 10 older drivers drove on a curvy road by using a fixed-based driving simulator. Older drivers were less accurate in obtaining information from the in-vehicle display, the average lane-position error of older drivers was greater, and older drivers spent more time driving outside their lanes. These results suggest that the use of in-vehicle displays, in their present configuration, is not appropriate for older drivers. When viewing information superimposed on the driving scene, older drivers were much more accurate and controlled their vehicles better. This indicates that the poor performance of older drivers with the in-vehicle display was due to vision-related changes, such as longer eye accommodation times, rather than cognitive processes.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.3141/1779-06
• Summary URL:
  http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=MEASURING+DIVIDED-ATTENTION+CAPABILITY+OF+YOUNG+AND+OLDER+DRIVERS&author=R.+Mourant&author=F.+Tsai&author=T.+Al-Shihabi&author=B.+Jaeger&publication_year=2001
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309072379
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1779, Traffic Safety 2001: Americans with Disabilities Act; Driver and Vehicle Modeling; Situation Awareness; Licensing; Driver Behavior; Enforcement; Trucks; and Motorcycles.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Mourant, R R
  • Tsai, F-J
  • Al-Shihabi, T
  • Jaeger, B K
• Publication Date: 2001

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 40-45
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1779
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged drivers; Attention; Distraction; Driving simulators; Instrument displays; Teenage drivers; Vision; Young adults
• Uncontrolled Terms: In-vehicle displays; Lane position; Superimposed displays
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00824559
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309072379
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Feb 12 2002 12:00AM