Negotiating left-hand and right-hand bends: a motorcycle simulator study to investigate experiential and behaviour differences across rider groups

Why do motorcyclists crash on bends? To address this question we examined the riding styles of three groups of motorcyclists on a motorcycle simulator. Novice, experienced and advanced motorcyclists navigated a series of combined left and right bends while their speed and lane position were recorded. Each rider encountered an unexpected hazard on both a left- and right-hand bend section. Upon seeing the hazards, all riders decreased their speed before steering to avoid the hazard. Experienced riders tended to follow more of a racing line through the bends, which resulted in them having to make the most severe changes to their position to avoid a collision. Advanced riders adopted the safest road positions, choosing a position which offered greater visibility through the bends. As a result, they did not need to alter their road position in response to the hazard. Novice riders adopted similar road positions to experienced riders on the left-hand bends, but their road positions were more similar to advanced riders on right-hand bends, suggesting that they were more aware of the risks associated with right bends. Novice riders also adopted a safer position on post-hazard bends whilst the experienced riders failed to alter their behaviour even though they had performed the greatest evasive manoeuvre in response to the hazards. Advanced riders did not need to alter their position as their approach to the bends was already optimal. The results suggest that non-advanced riders were more likely to choose an inappropriate lane position than an inappropriate speed when entering a bend. Furthermore, the findings support the theory that expertise is achieved as a result of relearning, with advanced training overriding ‘bad habits’ gained through experience alone

The role of experience and advanced training on performance in a motorcycle simulator

Motorcyclists are over-represented in collision statistics. While many collisions may be the direct fault of another road user, a considerable number of fatalities and injuries are due to the actions of the rider. While increased riding experience may improve skills, advanced training courses may be required to evoke the safest riding behaviours. The current research assessed the impact of experience and advanced training on rider behaviour using a motorcycle simulator. Novice riders, experienced riders and riders with advanced training traversed a virtual world through varying speed limits and roadways of different curvature. Speed and lane position were monitored. In a comparison of 60 mph and 40 mph zones, advanced riders rode more slowly in the 40 mph zones, and had greater variation in lane position than the other two groups. In the 60 mph zones, both advanced and experienced riders had greater lane variation than novices. Across the whole ride, novices tended to position themselves closer to the kerb. In a second analysis across four classifications of curvature (straight, slight, medium, tight) advanced and experienced riders varied their lateral position more so than novices, though advanced riders had greater variation in lane position than even experienced riders in some conditions. The results suggest that experience and advanced training lead to changes in behaviour compared to novice riders which can be interpreted as having a potentially positive impact on road safety

Cross-cultural effects on drivers' hazard perception

Hazard perception tests are used in several developed countries as part of the driver licensing curriculum, however little research has been done in developing countries where road safety is a primary concern. We conducted a cross-cultural hazard perception study to examine the transferability of hazard perception skills between Malaysia and the UK, using hazard clips filmed in both countries. The results showed that familiarity with both the driving environment and type of hazard facilitated drivers' ability to discriminate hazards in a timely manner, although overall drivers viewed and responded to hazards largely similarly regardless of origin. Visual strategies also appeared to be moderated mainly by the immediate driving environment rather than driver origin. Finally, Malaysian drivers required a higher threshold of danger than UK drivers before they would identify a situation as hazardous, possibly reflecting the more hazardous road environment in Malaysia. We suggest that hazard perception testing in developing countries requires a test where performance cannot be confounded with differing thresholds for hazardousness

Driving experience and the acquisition of visual information

The research presented in this thesis was initially motivated by the excessive accident rates for inexperienced drivers. Researchers have previously attempted to discover what type of experience is gained during driving, and how this reduces accident liability. This research was primarily concerned with the visual acquisition of information during driving, and how this ability varies with driving experience. The first experiment was conducted to assess which of two methods was the better suited to the assess the hypothesis. The results favoured eye tracking drivers in both the laboratory and while actually driving in the real world. On this basis experiments 2 and 3 were conducted. Experiment 2 required participants to drive along a set route while being eye tracked, while experiment 3 measured the eye movements of participants as they watched driving videos in a laboratory hazard perception test. The former experiment revealed experiential differences that extended the findings in the literature. The latter experiment revealed very few experiential differences however. The failure of the hazard perception test to evoke such differences was discussed in regard to the limitations of eye tracking methodology. If experienced drivers have less accidents than their inexperienced counterparts, then one would expect differences to occur in their search strategies. However, if the differences between drivers of varying experience lie within peripheral rather than foveal vision, the straightforward measuring of eye movements may not reveal the true differences. On the basis of the results so far and the literature, it was suggested that experience may allow greater deployment of attention in the peripheral field. Three artificial experiments were undertaken to assess the relationship between foveal demand and eccentricity, before returning to the driving context. In the two final experiments participants of varying driving experience watched the same hazard perception clips previously used in experiment 3. The primary task was either to rate each clip along the dimensions of danger and difficulty, or to press a foot pedal in response to the appearance of a dangerous event. The secondary task required participants to press a button whenever they saw a peripheral target light. Peripheral detection ability was found to degrade with increases in foveal demand (the appearance of a hazard in the hazard perception clips) and eccentricity. Of most importance however was the effect of experience. As drivers gain experience they are able to devote more attention to the peripheral visual field, though the appearance of a hazard degraded peripheral attention across all eccentricities and levels of experience. A detailed analysis of the time line of degradation revealed that though the experienced drivers suffered a greater degradation of peripheral attention with the appearance of a hazard than the less experienced participants, this degradation occurred for only a split second. Learner drivers however suffered the effects of this demand-modulated degradation of peripheral attention for over two seconds. Together these results provide evidence for an attentional skill that modifies the timing and magnitude of attention focusing due to an increase in foveal demand. This is a skill that seems to be learned with driving experience. The implications of these results to pure attention research and driving research are considered

Driving experience and the acquisition of visual information

The research presented in this thesis was initially motivated by the excessive accident rates for inexperienced drivers. Researchers have previously attempted to discover what type of experience is gained during driving, and how this reduces accident liability. This research was primarily concerned with the visual acquisition of information during driving, and how this ability varies with driving experience. The first experiment was conducted to assess which of two methods was the better suited to the assess the hypothesis. The results favoured eye tracking drivers in both the laboratory and while actually driving in the real world. On this basis experiments 2 and 3 were conducted. Experiment 2 required participants to drive along a set route while being eye tracked, while experiment 3 measured the eye movements of participants as they watched driving videos in a laboratory hazard perception test. The former experiment revealed experiential differences that extended the findings in the literature. The latter experiment revealed very few experiential differences however. The failure of the hazard perception test to evoke such differences was discussed in regard to the limitations of eye tracking methodology. If experienced drivers have less accidents than their inexperienced counterparts, then one would expect differences to occur in their search strategies. However, if the differences between drivers of varying experience lie within peripheral rather than foveal vision, the straightforward measuring of eye movements may not reveal the true differences. On the basis of the results so far and the literature, it was suggested that experience may allow greater deployment of attention in the peripheral field. Three artificial experiments were undertaken to assess the relationship between foveal demand and eccentricity, before returning to the driving context. In the two final experiments participants of varying driving experience watched the same hazard perception clips previously used in experiment 3. The primary task was either to rate each clip along the dimensions of danger and difficulty, or to press a foot pedal in response to the appearance of a dangerous event. The secondary task required participants to press a button whenever they saw a peripheral target light. Peripheral detection ability was found to degrade with increases in foveal demand (the appearance of a hazard in the hazard perception clips) and eccentricity. Of most importance however was the effect of experience. As drivers gain experience they are able to devote more attention to the peripheral visual field, though the appearance of a hazard degraded peripheral attention across all eccentricities and levels of experience. A detailed analysis of the time line of degradation revealed that though the experienced drivers suffered a greater degradation of peripheral attention with the appearance of a hazard than the less experienced participants, this degradation occurred for only a split second. Learner drivers however suffered the effects of this demand-modulated degradation of peripheral attention for over two seconds. Together these results provide evidence for an attentional skill that modifies the timing and magnitude of attention focusing due to an increase in foveal demand. This is a skill that seems to be learned with driving experience. The implications of these results to pure attention research and driving research are considered

Are experienced drivers more likely than novice drivers to benefit from driving simulations with a wide field of view?

This study aimed to further our understanding of the impact of a restricted field of view on visual search and hazard perception, by comparing novice and experienced driver performance in a driving simulator as a function of the available field of view. Participants encountered a series of virtual hazards during their drive while viewing the world under narrow or wide field of view conditions. The results showed that all drivers were more likely to avoid the hazards when presented with a wide view, even though the hazards only occurred in an area of the screen that was visible in both the wide and narrow view conditions. Experienced drivers also tended to have fewer crashes, and this appeared to be related to a greater speed reduction 10 metres before the hazard. This speed reduction was greatest in the wide field of view condition suggesting that additional information from wider eccentricities was useful in safely navigating the hazardous events. Gaze movement recording revealed that only experienced drivers made overt use of wider eccentricities, and this was typically in advance of any visual cues that might help identify the hazard. This suggests that either early overt attention to wider eccentricities, or continuous covert attention to these extra-foveal regions on approach to the hazard, is responsible for the safer behaviour of experienced drivers when presented with a wide field of view. We speculate about the possible underlying mechanism and discuss possible consequences for HP tests

What happens when drivers face hazards on the road?

The current study aims to obtain knowledge about the nature of the processes involved in Hazard Perception, using measurement techniques to separate and independently quantify these suspected sub-processes: Sensation, Situation Awareness (recognition, location and projection) and Decision-Making. It applies Signal Detection Theory analysis to Hazard Perception and Prediction Tasks. To enable the calculation of Signal Detection Theory parameters, video-recorded hazardous vs. quasi-hazardous situations were presented to the participants. In the hazardous situations it is necessary to perform an evasive action, for instance, braking or swerving abruptly, while the quasi-hazardous situations do not require the driver to make any evasive manoeuvre, merely to carry on driving at the same speed and following the same trajectory. A first Multiple Choice Hazard Perception and Prediction test was created to measure participants’ performance in a What Happens Next? Task. The sample comprised 143 participants, 47 females and 94 males. Groups of non-offender drivers (learner, novice and experienced) and offender drivers (novice and experienced) were recruited. The Multiple Choice Hazard Perception and Prediction test succeeded in finding differences between drivers according to their driving experience. In fact, differences exist with regard to the level of hazard discrimination (d’ prime) by drivers with different experience (learner, novice and experienced drivers) and profile (offenders and non-offenders) and these differences emerge from Signal Detection Theory analysis. In addition, it was found that experienced drivers show higher Situation Awareness than learner or novice drivers. On the other hand, although offenders do worse than non-offenders on the hazard identification question, they do just as well when their Situation Awareness is probed (in fact, they are as aware as non-offenders of what the obstacles on the road are, where they are and what will happen next). Nevertheless, when considering the answers participants provided about their degree of cautiousness, experienced drivers were more cautious than novice drivers, and non-offender drivers were more cautious than offender drivers. That is, a greater number of experienced and non-offender drivers chose the answer “I would make an evasive manoeuvre such as braking gradually”

A predictive hazard perception paradigm differentiates driving experience cross-culturally

Hazard perception (HP) tests are used in several developed countries as part of the driver licensing process, where they are believed to have improved road safety; however, relatively little HP research has been conducted in developing countries, which account for 80% of the world’s road fatalities. Previous research suggests that drivers in these countries may be desensitized to hazardous road situations and thus have increased response latencies to hazards, creating validity issues with the typical HP reaction time paradigm. The present study compared Malaysian and UK drivers’ HP skills when watching video clips filmed in both countries, using a predictive paradigm where hazard criterion could not affect performance. Clips filmed in the UK successfully differentiated experience in participants from both countries, however there was no such differentiation in the Malaysian set of videos. Malaysian drivers also predicted hazards less accurately overall, indicating that exposure to a greater number of hazards on Malaysian roads did not have a positive effect on participants’ predictive hazard perception skill. Nonetheless the experiential discrimination noted in this predictive paradigm may provide a practical alternative for hazard perception testing in developing countries

Hazard prediction discriminates between novice and experienced drivers

Typical hazard perception tests often confound multiple processes in their responses. The current study tested hazard prediction in isolation to assess whether this component can discriminate between novice and experienced drivers. A variant of the hazard perception test, based on the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique, found experienced drivers to outperform novices across three experiments suggesting that the act of predicting an imminent hazard is a crucial part of the hazard-perception process. Furthermore three additional hypotheses were tested in these experiments. First, performance was compared across clips of different length. There was marginal evidence that novice drivers' performance suffered with the longest clips, but experienced drivers’ performance did not, suggesting that experienced drivers find hazard prediction less effortful. Secondly, predictive accuracy was found to be dependent on the temporal proximity of visual precursors to the hazard. Thirdly the relationship between the hazard and its precursor was found to be important, with less obvious precursors improving the discrimination between novice and experience drivers. These findings demonstrate that a measure of hazard prediction, which is less confounded by the influence of risk appraisal than simple response time measures, can still discriminate between novice and experienced drivers. Application of this methodology under different conditions can produce insights into the underlying processes that may be at work, whilst also providing an alternative test of driver skill in relation to the detection of hazards

Evaluating secondary input devices to support an automotive touchscreen HMI: a cross-cultural simulator study conducted in the UK and China

Touchscreen Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) are a well-established and popular choice to provide the primary control interface between driver and vehicle, yet inherently demand some visual attention. Employing a secondary device with the touchscreen may reduce the demand but there is some debate about which device is most suitable, with current manufacturers favouring different solutions and applying these internationally. We present an empirical driving simulator study, conducted in the UK and China, in which 48 participants undertook typical in-vehicle tasks utilising either a touchscreen, rotary-controller, steering-wheel-controls or touchpad. In both the UK and China, the touchscreen was the most preferred/least demanding to use, and the touchpad least preferred/most demanding, whereas the rotary-controller was generally favoured by UK drivers and steering-wheel-controls were more popular in China. Chinese drivers were more excited by the novelty of the technology, and spent more time attending to the devices while driving, leading to an increase in off-road glance time and a corresponding detriment to vehicle control. Even so, Chinese drivers rated devices as easier-to-use while driving, and felt that they interfered less with their driving performance, compared to their UK counterparts. Results suggest that the most effective solution (to maximise performance/acceptance, while minimising visual demand) is to maintain the touchscreen as the primary control interface (e.g. for top-level tasks), and supplement this with a secondary device that is only enabled for certain actions; moreover, different devices may be employed in different cultural markets. Further work is required to explore these recommendations in greater depth (e.g. during extended or real-world testing), and to validate the findings and approach in other cultural contexts