A SECONDARY TASK MEASURE OF DRIVING DEMANDS: TEST TRACK EVALUATION

A system has previously been developed to measure demands made on the driver. Performance on a secondary task, together with measures of physiological activity and vehicle control movements, are recorded concurrently in an instrumented vehicle. In the present experiment the driving task was to steer down straight lanes of four different widths; on some runs transient visual events also required attention. Secondary task performance was found to be related to both these aspects of task demand: it discriminated all except the widest two lanes, and reflected the occurrence of transient events regardless of whether they required a response. Driving performance measures were related to steering difficulty but were unsuitable for measuring transient events. Physiological measures were less sensitive than the others to steering difficulty. Performance of the secondary task slightly affected driving performance, and also affected one of the four indices of physiological activity. It was stable over time. Both driving performance and physiological measures showed some effects of practice. /Author/

• Corporate Authors:

  ARRB

  Melbourne, Victoria  Australia 
• Authors:
  • MACDONALD, W A
  • Hoffman, E R
• Publication Date: 1977-12

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 57 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Driver performance; Drivers; Instrumented vehicles; Motor skills; Personnel performance; Physiological aspects; Reaction time; Steering; Test tracks; Vehicle design
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver reaction
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00178526
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: ARR Report No. 70
• Files: TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Aug 27 1978 12:00AM