How do Environmental Factors Affect Drivers’ Gaze and Head Movements?

Details

• Creators:
  Tavakoli, Arash ; Balali, Vahid ; Heydarian, Arsalan
• Corporate Creators:
  Mineta Transportation Institute ; San Jose State University. College of Business
• Corporate Contributors:
  State of California SB1 2017/2018, Trustees of the California State University Sponsored Programs Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Automatic data collection systems
  • Drivers
  • Eye movements
  • Head
  • Passengers
  • Weather
  • Environmental phenomena
  • Human factors
  • Driver Behaviors
  • Gaze
  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  21–23
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.31979/mti.2021.2044
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  Mineta Transportation Institute ; San Jose State University
• Abstract:
  Studies have shown that environmental factors affect driving behaviors. For instance, weather conditions and the presence of a passenger have been shown to significantly affect the speed of the driver. As one of the important measures of driving behavior is the gaze and head movements of the driver, such metrics can be potentially used towards understanding the effects of environmental factors on the driver’s behavior in real-time. In this study, using a naturalistic study platform, videos have been collected from six participants for more than four weeks of a fully naturalistic driving scenario. The videos of both the participants’ faces and roads have been cleaned and manually categorized depending on weather, road type, and passenger conditions. Facial videos have been analyzed using OpenFace to retrieve the gaze direction and head movements of the driver. Results, overall, suggest that the gaze direction and head movements of the driver are affected by a combination of environmental factors and individual differences. Specifically, results depict the distracting effect of the passenger on some individuals. In addition, it shows that highways and city streets are the cause for maximum distraction on the driver’s gaze.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  ZSB12017-SJAUX
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/60235/dot_60235_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.02 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:a0f9e9a379bc06c4eaf38ecfe6ee0bf95ed21459c942e94065ce3a6a36e1b0b0