On-Road Evaluation of Destination Entry and Wayfinding Tasks: Comparisons Against Normal Driving

While relative comparisons between “distracting” tasks (e.g. dialing a cell phone vs. talking on the cell phone) are useful, “normal driving” remains the benchmark for any task performed by the driver while a vehicle is in motion. Arguably, tasks that are less risky will result in observed patterns of driver behavior that are closer to those observed during normal driving. This paper describes the outcome of a study to compare destination entry and wayfinding across different navigation devices (with different input modalities) against epochs where the driver was not tasked with any other secondary or tertiary tasks (beyond occasional conversation with the experimenter). Results indicate some significant differences between destination entry tasks and normal driving, the magnitudes of which are mainly modulated by the input modality. Differences were less obvious during the navigation tasks, likely due to the intermittent nature of interactions with the navigation device in that context. Total eyes off-road time was also subjected to comparisons against previously published crash and near-crash risk estimate models. The results suggest that, assuming confidence in the models, there may be differences in the levels of crash and near-crash risk associated with different navigation devices. The approach is presented as a potential additional metric to consider in assessing devices that are used by drivers in moving vehicles.

• Corporate Authors:

  University of Iowa, Iowa City

  Public Policy Center
  227 South Quadrangle
  Iowa City, IA  United States  52242-1192
• Authors:
  • Perez, Miguel
  • Viita, Derek
  • Hankey, Jonathan
  • Voran-Nowak, Sherri
  • Tengler, Steven
• Conference:
  • Driving Assessment 2011: 6th International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training, and Vehicle Design
  • Location: Olympic Valley - Lake Tahoe CA
  • Date: 2011-6-27 to 2011-6-30
• Publication Date: 2011

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 401-408
• Monograph Title: Proceedings of the 6th International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training, and Vehicle Design, Resort at Squaw Creek, Olympic Valley - Lake Tahoe, California, USA, June 27-30, 2011

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobile navigation systems; Driving; Evaluation; Highway safety; Risk analysis; Traffic crashes; Wayfinding
• Uncontrolled Terms: Destination entry
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01349856
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 16 2011 1:56PM