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Abstract

In this paper we describe an event-detection measure for assessing drivers' attention and situation awareness during driving, and present data from a study using this measure. In this study, drivers detected traffic events directly in front of them most frequently, events in an oncoming front lane less frequently, and events behind them least often. Drivers also detected swerve events more frequently than deceleration events. We compare the event-detection measure to other measures of attention and situation awareness used to assess driving: the SAGAT technique (Endsley, 1995), implicit-performance measures (Durso & Gronlund, 1999), and the flicker paradigm (Richard, Wright & Ee, 2002). Each of the above measures has advantages and disadvantages, and no single measure is optimal. However, we argue that the eventdetection measure has some advantages over other techniques in answering questions regarding mechanisms of attention allocation and attention capture and how these two mechanisms interact during driving.

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Using an Event-Detection Measure to Assess Drivers' Attention and Situation Awareness

Abstract

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References