The primary objective of this simulator study was to examine how attentional demand during automobile driving changes as a function of vehicle speed, road curvature and lane width. Attentional demand was estimated quantitatively using self-paced visual occlusion during driving and was calculated as the percent of the time that the visual occlusion spectacles were open. The results revealed that, in accordance with earlier related studies in the literature, attentional demand increases as speed increases and as lane width decreases, and is also greater for curved as compared to straight road segments. Implications of the findings both for further research and practical road design are discussed.
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