RISK TAKING BEHAVIOR AND INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOR OF DRIVERS IN A DRIVE THROUGH GAP SITUATION

A SERIES OF FIELD EXPERIMENTS WITH AN INSTRUMENTED VEHICLE WERE CONDUCTED TO INVESTIGATE THE RISK TAKING BEHAVIOR AND INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOR OF DRIVERS WHEN APPROACHING AND DRIVING THROUGH A GAP. A DRIVER'S EYE MOVEMENTS AND SPECIFICALLY HIS TEMPORAL LOOKING ACTIVITIES, AS WELL AS A SECONDARY TASK WERE USED TO INVESTIGATE HIS INFORMATION SEEKING ACTIVITIES. A "MEAN RISK SCORE" WAS DEFINED AND USED AS AN INDICATOR OF A DRIVER'S RISK TAKING BEHAVIOR. THE EFFECTS OF GAP SIZE, VEHICLE SPEED AND REWARD CONDITIONS WERE INVESTIGATED. THE OBTAINED RESULTS INDICATE THAT THE NUMBER OF LOOKS MADE, THE PERCENTAGE OF TIME LOOKED AT THE GAP, AND THE AVERAGE DURATION OF THE LOOKS MADE DURING AN APPROACH INCREASED NEARLY LINEAR WITH DECREASING POSITIVE GAP CLEARANCE. THE PERCENTAGE OF TIME LOOKED AND THE NUMBER OF LOOKS MADE PER SECOND INCREASED ABOUT 35% FOR A SPEED INCREASE FROM NINE TO 17 MPH, WHILE THE TOTAL NUMBER OF LOOKS MADE DECREASED BY ABOUT 25%. PSYCHOMETRIC RISK ACCEPTANCE FUNCTIONS WERE CALCULATED ALONG WITH THE "MEAN RISK SCORES" FOR EACH DRIVER. SOME DRIVERS EXHIBITED A CONSIDERABLY HIGHER RISK ACCEPTANCE DECISION VARIABILITY UNDER THE REWARD CONDITION.

• Corporate Authors:

  Ohio University, Athens

  3 Canterbury Drive
  Athens, OH  United States  45701
• Authors:
  • Zwahlen, H T
• Publication Date: 1973-10

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 12 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Drivers; Eye movements; Hazards; Measurement; Risk assessment; Simulation
• Old TRIS Terms: Driver psychology
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00224570
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Highway Safety Research Institute
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 19 1974 12:00AM