The Effect of Driving in Unfamiliar Traffic Flow to Simulated Driving Performance

Date

2023-10

Author

Özkan, Batıkan

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Being unfamiliar with foreign traffic environments is a known factor that has a negative impact on road safety. However, unlike route familiarity, traffic flow familiarity, that is being familiar with right-hand or left-hand traffic, is overlooked in road safety studies. Even though some studies reported safety concerns regarding being on the unfamiliar side of the traffic, the effect of driving on the unfamiliar side of the road on driving safety is under-explored. This study aims to explore the impact of driving in left-hand traffic by drivers who are familiar with right-hand traffic on their driving in simulated driving. In addition, this study aims to compare the visual attention of drivers in left-hand traffic and right-hand traffic using eye-tracking technology. Lastly, the current study aims to explore the difference in traffic climate evaluations of drivers in left-hand traffic and right-hand traffic scenarios using self-report measurements. The results demonstrated that drivers had overall lower driving performance in unfamiliar, left-hand traffic scenarios. Traffic climate evaluations also demonstrated that participants perceived unfamiliar traffic flow as more risky and demanding. Although visual attention parameters did not differ between different traffic flow scenarios, whether participants allocated visual attention to the correct side of the road or not is discussed. The examination of simulator outputs and traffic climate evaluations by driver skill evaluations are discussed.

Subject Keywords

driving simulator, familiarity, traffic climate, eye tracker, traffic flow

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/105444

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis