Analysis of the effects of lead-vehicles on drivers approaching deceleration lanes on a dual carriageway road

Abstract

The presence of other vehicles interferes with the recognition of the key features of the road environment and induces drivers to concentrate their attention on the moving source of information, reducing the attention towards the fixed elements of the road. In presence of lead-vehicles, drivers focus first on the moving objects and unconsciously slow the search of information for guidance and control. The stimulus-driven attention tends to prevail on the goal-directed attention (Kock, 2004) and the space perception is altered. The aim of this study is to understand how the improper lookout caused by the presence of moving objects like lead-vehicles affects the manoeuvres of drivers navigating interchanges, in proximity to (unexpected) visual elements of the road platform as deceleration lanes. In order to measure the effects of the moving vehicles in the visual scene, a group of twelve drivers preformed driving tests under different conditions in correspondence to the exit lanes of two different interchanges located on a dual carriageway rural road. Their performances were tracked, recorded and analysed by electronic devices and digital cameras installed on the test-car. The results illustrate the drivers’ reaction in presence of lead vehicles located in the centre of their visual field and show how the diverging manoeuvres and the perception of the road environment are influenced.