The sudden appearance of a glaring object during night time driving, e.g. industrial buildings or billboards, can draw the driver's attention from the actual driving task and therefore exacerbate the perception of relevant objects. The goal of this study is the classification of the influence of disrupting factors including the traffic situation and the distribution of light sources, the determination of the consequences in the driver's behavior and feelings, and finally to design a dedicated model of perceived complexity. The present paper describes the design, conduction, and results of a field study, leading to a qualitative evaluation of influence parameters, which is the key experiment to finding an analytical description of perceived complexity in nighttime traffic. After performing tests in a real traffic environment with nine test subjects, the following relations could be won from the data: In general, the overall rating of traffic scenarios shows that drivers do not feel overcharged. More than 93 % of the 442 ratings lay between 0 and 59. A significant increase in complexity and heart rate from autobahn to inner city environment could be shown. Nighttime driving experience in rural road and city center environments has a decreasing effect on heart rate as well as skin conductance level. Complexity rating and skin conductance rise with the amount of light sources in the traffic scenario. The influence of the traffic volume has a more complicated impact on complexity perception: A little traffic serves as a helpful reference, while congested traffic restricts the scope of actions and likewise decreases complexity. Opposing traffic does not have an effect on physiological data, but meanwhile a clear, increasing impact on sensed complexity. The results provide an insight into perception of complexity in nighttime traffic by determining influence factors and relations to not only individual ratings but also physiological data, indicating the stress level. Furthermore, it became clear that the evaluated parameters interact - e.g. light sources and opposing traffic - and that each factor has to be investigated more detailed. Tests with further subjects and driving simulator studies are in preparation to raise comprehensive data and generate an analytical model of complexity perception.
Modelling of the perceived complexity of road environment in night time driving
2012
6 Seiten, 10 Bilder, 4 Quellen
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Datenträger
Englisch
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