The role of group membership in active road user attention across different age groups

Abstract

This study aimed to explore how travelling in different group constellations (alone, with known or with unknown people) affects children's and adults’ visual behaviour in traffic when cycling or walking. Additionally, mobile phone/earphone usage was considered, too. A follow-along study (n = 43) and an observation study (n = 898) were conducted to observe travellers in a natural setting. In the follow-along study, eye-tracking was used to investigate children’s glances behaviour on their way to school and how well they manage to fulfil attentional requirements. The observational study focused on children's and adults' visual behaviour at several intersections. The main result of the study was that group membership appears to have a large influence on individuals' visual sampling strategy. In formal groups reliance on each other was found to be stronger than in informal groups. People with a natural responsibility in the group, such as parents or other adults, take a more active role in visual monitoring. Reliance on others is found to a greater extent among pedestrians than cyclists. Regarding communication devices, the use of earphones did not significantly affect glance behaviour towards relevant areas. In naturalistic situations, group constellation, age and phone/earphone usage are interlinked, which needs to be considered when studying these factors.