The statistical distributions of driver off-roadway spare glance durations for six in-vehicle and one out-of-vehicle viewing tasks are generated. An analytical model is fitted to experimental data from several sources to yield these distributions. Of the seven types of driver viewing tasks, two are required for navigation purposes, whereas five need only be viewed occasionally and usually under light traffic conditions. The two navigational tasks are viewing the rearview and left-side mirrors. The other five tasks include viewing the speedometer, temperature, and defroster gauges, glancing at the radio, and reading roadway name signs outside the moving vehicle. Mean, standard deviation, and median values are given for these viewing task durations, and probability distribution values are tabulated. A goodness-of-fit test comparing model values to experimental data is also conducted for the driver task of viewing the car radio.
Abstract