Visual behavior and road traffic hazard situations when using a bike computer on a racing bike: An eye movement study

Abstract

Bike computers are an important equipment, especially on race bikes where athletes can monitor output parameters. The purpose of the present experiment was to determine the effect of visually monitoring the cadence of a bike computer and to perceive hazard traffic situations in a virtual environment. In a within subject-design individuals (N = 21) were instructed to perform the riding task in two single-task conditions (only watching the traffic at the video with occluded or without occluded bike computer), two dual-task conditions (monitoring the cadence of 70 RPM or 90 RPM and observing the traffic) and one control condition (no instructions). Percentage dwell time of the eye movements, the constant error from the target cadence, and percentage of the recognized hazard traffic situations were analyzed. The analysis indicated that the visual behavior to monitor the traffic was not reduced when individuals used a bike computer to control the cadence.