THE UTILITY OF PERIPHERAL VISION TO MOTOR VEHICLE DRIVERS

The study involved (1) the determination of the frequency of mirror usage by subjects in traffic maneuvers using their own cars and the associated extent of head turn during mirror usage, (2) the measurement of peripheral detection angles (PDA) as a function of target contrast, target speed, foveal attentional load, eye and head position, and subject age in a laboratory simulation, and (3) field validation studies. In Task 1, 45 subjects using their own vehicles yielded 4,400 mirror samples and associated head movements. Highlights include: (1) Greater head movement is associated with the left mirror compared to the inside mirror. The percent head turn (degree head turn/degrees to mirror) was 65% for the outside mirror versus 50% for the inside mirror. (2) Age differences were significant with older subjects exhibiting greater head movement for both mirrors.

• Corporate Authors:

  Ohio State University, Columbus

  Systems Research Group, 2070 Neil Avenue
  Columbus, OH  United States  43210

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Rockwell, T H
  • Balasubramanian, K N
  • Kretovics, T
  • Wilfong, E J
• Publication Date: 1977-8-1

Media Info

• Pagination: 252 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Age; Drivers; Field of vision; Field tests; Head; Human factors engineering; Mirrors; Motion; Peripheral vision; Visibility; Vision; Visual perception
• Old TRIS Terms: Driver vision
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00175546
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: DOT-HS-803-244 Final Rpt.
• Contract Numbers: DOT-HS-5-01203
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Jun 14 1978 12:00AM