This report is the second in a series dealing with head movements as an indication of the distribution of drivers' attention in traffic situations. In order to study the way restrictions of the visual field affected the scanning behaviour of drivers, measurements of head movements were made at urban road crossings. Four subjects drove in normal traffic wearing spectacles that restricted their visual fields. Three different levels of restriction of the visual field were chosen, corresponding to a maximum binocular visual field of 80, 65, and 50 degrees respectively. Maximum amplitude of horizontal head movements was used as the main dependent variable. The subjects were found to change their systematic scanning behaviour due to restrictions in their visual fields, by making correspondingly longer horizontal head movements. The subjects did not drive significantly more slow neither did they express any feelings of insecurity when driving with a restricted visual field.
Abstract