Visual Sampling of In-Vehicle Text Messages

Joshua D. Hoffman, John D. Lee, Daniel V. McGehee, Mashala Macias, Andrew W. Gellatly
2005 Transportation Research Record  
Emerging in-vehicle technology associated with radio data systems (RDS), satellite radio, navigation aids, and infotainment systems will expose drivers to an increasing amount of textual information. The visual demands of driving make it critically important to understand how characteristics of such information affect visual sampling of the roadway. This study used a medium-fidelity driving simulator to evaluate the effect of scroll control (manual, automatic), the number of lines displayed
more » ... , two, four), and scrolling strategy (line -by-line, page -by-page) on drivers' visual sampling behavior of text messages. Fifteen males and fifteen females, ages 25-51 (mean 35.7, s.d. 7.5), participated. Consistent with previous models of sampling behavior, text message characteristics affected the number of glances much more strongly than the duration of glances, and drivers were able to protect driving performance even with a demanding secondary visual task. However, the number of lines of text displayed increased the mean glance duration, the variability of glance duration, and the number of glances greater than two seconds. Scrolling text line -by-line increased visual demand relative to scrolling page-by-page particularly when scrolling is manually controlled by the driver. A touch screen button for manual control of scrolling lead to greater visual demand compared to automatically scrolled text.
doi:10.1177/0361198105193700104 fatcat:m4uqhijqb5ftzoh7trpr44hdra