Influence of Road Geometry on Driver’s Gaze Behavior on Motorways

Abstract

Driver’s gaze is a highly selective dynamic process, which ensures a precise perception of moving objects, speeds and spatial expansions in road traffic. Thus, the gaze behavior of drivers determines largely their driving behavior, and is crucial for traffic safety. With the aid of modern technology, the gaze behavior can be precisely recorded during driving. This paper describes part of the research, which has been undertaken in order to investigate the relationship between driver’s gaze behavior and horizontal alignment geometry. It is known, that driver’s stress state and gaze concentration are not the same when steering a vehicle along straight stretches and within curves. The stress is higher in curves and this leads to an increased attention. The gaze behavior in left and right horizontal curves is characterized by certain gaze patterns, which clearly differ from each other. In this respect, appropriate investigations and analyzes have been also carried out. Different parameters have been calculated in order to assess and quantify the gaze behavior. By evaluating these parameters, the spatial and temporal concentration of the driver’s gaze as well as the intensity of information acquisition and processing have been analyzed along straight stretches, left and right horizontal curves.