Driving experience and time-sharing during in-car tasks on roads of different width

Abstract

Earlier research has not found consistent differences between the way novices and experienced drivers allocate time between road and in-car tasks when average time spent on the latter is being considered. This study addresses the question of whether novices occasionally fail in supervisory control more often than experienced drivers. The influence of driving experience and road type on the allocation of visual attention was investigated by analysing the distribution of glance duration at in-car tasks for 23 experienced (life-time driving experience 50 000 – 2 000 000 km) and 24 inexperienced (life-time driving experience 400 – 15 000 km) drivers. The duration and number of glances were recorded while the participants changed a radio cassette, dialled a mobile phone or tuned the radio, while driving on a highway or motorway. The experienced drivers allocated their visual attention more adequately, here interpreted as attributed to their greater driving experience. The glance duration of the novices showed a larger variance, due to a greater percentage of short, possibly ineffective, and long, risky glances. None of the experienced drivers took glances longer than 3 s at the in-car task, but 29% of the novices did. The novices' long glances were also associated with large lateral displacement of the car. Drivers took longer glances on a motorway than on a highway, which supports the notion that drivers accommodate their glances to the time margins dictated by different traffic situations.