Assessing the effects of work zone configurations on drivers' visual attention

Abstract

This study assessed the effects of two different work zone configurations on driver’s visual attention by eye movement monitoring. A driving simulator study was conducted with thirty participants. Variations in traffic density and warning sign placement distance were added to the merge configurations to simulate the real time situation. A 2 x 2 x 3 within-subjects factorial design was used for this research. The independent variables used in this study were (1) merge configuration [(i) Conventional Lane Merge (CLM) and (ii) Joint Lane Merge (JLM)], (2) traffic density [(i) high and (ii) low] and (3) distance between traffic signs [(i) standard distance, (ii) 25% reduction from standard and (iii) 25% increase from standard]. The dependent variable used for this study was the total number of eye movements (gaze) of the participants towards the three mirrors (rear view, left side view and right side view), and towards ‘other areas’ such as dash board, warning signs, environment, and other vehicles etc., were analyzed. Results from the research show that, the total number of gazes at mirrors and ‘other areas’ in CLM and JLM are nearly the same and they are not significantly different (p value: >0.05). Changes in traffic density and sign placement distances have a significant effect on number of gazes at mirrors and ‘other areas’ (p value: <0.05). Gender and driving experience have a significant effect on number of gazes at mirrors, but not at ‘other areas’. Reducing the sign placement distances by 25% from the standard distances does not show any significant effect on the number of gazes at mirrors, however it shows an increase in the number of gazes at ‘other areas’ by nearly 11.6%. An increase in sign placement distances by 25% from the standard distances, show an increase in number of gazes at mirrors by nearly 16.9%, while it does not show any significant effect on the number of gazes at the ‘other areas’.