Traffic environment is becoming increasingly complex. New in-vehicle displays and systems are or will be installed. This, together with an increase in the number of vehicles and messages along the road, may result in distracted drivers. Since a major contribution to accidents is driver distraction it is important to understand the phenomenon in order to mitigate the negative effects. The overall aim of the thesis is to investigate the effects on driver attention following a distraction alert. The thesis is based on three experimental studies. Two of them were based on tests performed in a simulated driving environment. The third study uses the Kansei Engineering, a method for translating feelings and impressions into product parameters. The results show that it is rather difficult to distract drivers in an experimental environment and that the used methods need to be developed.
Abstract