Effects of Roadway Factors and Demographic Characteristics on Drivers' Perceived Complexity of Simulated Roadway Videos

This study examined drivers’ perceived complexity of simulated roadway videos using a full factorial experimental design that featured high and low levels of five roadway factors: (1) work zone treatment, (2) traffic, (3) roadway objects, (4) lane configuration, and (5) urban/rural environments. The results indicated that increased traffic had the greatest effect on perceived complexity with urban (vs. rural) environments having the smallest effect among the factors. Segmented demographic models for gender, driving frequency, and driving experience revealed that drivers perceive roadway environment factors—such as traffic lane configuration, and roadway objects—differently depending on their demographic class membership. This finding may shed light on performance differences between demographic groups. This study is also intended to inform the design of simulated and naturalistic studies, for which factorial experiments, such as the one executed here, would be time and resource prohibitive. Finally, these findings may shape behavioral and context sensitive modifications for today’s rapidly evolving, shared transportation systems.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AND10 Standing Committee on Vehicle User Characteristics. Alternative title: Effects of Roadway Factors and Demographic Characteristics on Drivers' Perceived Complexity
• Authors:
  • Shaw, F Atiyya
  • Greenwood, Aaron T
  • Bae, JongIn
  • Corso, Gregory M
  • Rodgers, Michael O
  • Hunter, Michael
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2018-1-7 to 2018-1-11
• Date: 2018

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 9p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Demographics; Drivers; Driving simulators; Traffic density; Traffic lanes; Traffic simulation; Video; Work zones
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01658975
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 18-02705
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 5 2018 11:26AM