A driving simulator was used to examine the perceptual basis for judgments to turn left in 24 female and 24 male adults. Arrival time (AT) of an oncoming vehicle (VH), viewing distance to the VH, and type of VH (motorcycle, compact car, full-size car, or truck) were varied across trials. As predicted, subjects underestimated actual AT, with underestimation increasing as AT increased. Significant gender differences were found in estimation of AT, with judgments made by women being generally more conservative than those made by men. Mean-judged AT accuracy declined with increasing VH size from motorcycle to truck. This ordering supports the margins-of-safety hypothesis that larger vehicles are given more space-time relative to self-position. Men were more accurate than women at estimating the AT of motorcycles and trucks, but not cars. The discussion focusses on limitations of "disappearance" methodology and on future research applications.
Abstract