Driver Eye Scanning of Warning Signs on Rural Highways

Abstract

Eye scanning recordings were made for two drivers on a eight mile section of a rural hilly two-lane highway. Data was collected in both directions (total 66 warning signs). Nighttime data (with low beams) was also collected for one of the drivers. An instrumented vehicle with a corneal reflection technique television eye scanning recording system was used. Eye scanning behavior when approaching warning signs was analyzed for situations where there was no other traffic visible to the test driver. The results of this exploratory study suggest that: 1) drivers look practically at every warning sign, 2) drivers look on the average about 2.3 times at a warning sign, 3) the average first look distances for daytime and nighttime are about 450’ (137m) or about 7 seconds away from the warning signs, 4) the first look distances expressed as percentages of the maximum warning sign sight distances appear to be slightly larger for the nighttime condition than for the daytime condition (nighttime average 83%, daytime average 65%), 5) the fixation durations for looking at the warning signs during nighttime are considerably longer than during daytime (daytime average 0.45 seconds, nighttime average 0.75 seconds), and 6) different types of warning signs and warning sign arrangements appear to influence a driver's eye scanning behavior.