01100660

Component

A vehicle's headlight beam distribution must offer accurate visual information and be set in such a way that ensures safe and comfortable drive. At present, however, headlight beam distribution is often determined without due regard being given to the behavior and area of the driver's eye fixation. Therefore, the authors have developed a driver eye fixation analysis system to conduct research into headlight beam distribution. (1) Development of a driver eye fixation analysis system: Based on the visual information investigation theory and the kinematic eddy theory of the eyeball, a method to specify an eye fixation point and a method to eliminate noise data, such as looking in another direction, were developed from measured sight line data. Using these methods, a system was developed which produces a map that indicates behavior and area of eye fixation, the distribution of eye fixation points, gaze frequency, and the distribution of visual information. (2) Results of headlamp beam distribution research: An analysis of eye fixation while driving on a road in a mountainous area, rural road, urban road, and expressway revealed the following. (a) Analysis of driver eye fixation behavior while making curves showed that the driver was attempting to acquire road information three seconds ahead of the vehicle. (b) Analysis of gaze area for each type of road showed that the horizontal beam spread areas needed for each one is approximately 35‹ for mountainous area road, 30‹ for the rural and urban roads, and 20‹ for the expressway. (c) The average focal point distance for each type of road was 54.0m for the mountainous area road, 63.7m for the rural road, 51.3m for the urban road, and 180.9m for the expressway. The focal point distance was longest for the expressway, where traveling speed was the highest, which revealed that the average focal point distance is affected by which type of road the driver is traveling on.

01084478

08-2035

English

22p

2008

Transportation Research Board 87th Annual Meeting

DVD

Figures (16) ; Photos (5) ; References (12) ; Tables (3)

Automobile drivers; Curves (Geometry); Expressways; Eye fixations; Eye movements; Headlamps; Highway safety; Mountain roads; Rural highways; Urban highways

Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2008 Paper #08-2035

TRIS, TRB

Jan 29 2008 4:23PM