Analysis of Driver Perceptions and Behavior When Driving in an Unfamiliar Traffic Regulation

The relationships between eye movement and behavior when driving in situations of familiar and unfamiliar highway regulations was investigated using a driving simulator and an eye tracking system. The experimental system proposed in this paper is useful for analyzing human error induced from differing traffic regulations, specifically between Japan and USA scenarios. It was found, from the time histories of eye movements by synchronizing vehicle trajectories, the different traffic regulations of Japan and USA caused an overshooting when taking right turns and an undershooting when taking left turns. Such overshooting and undershooting may lead to head-on crashes. It was also noted that duration time and number of eye fixation during overshooting or undershooting increased when compared to situations without overshooting and undershooting.