Gaze and steering strategies while driving around bends with shoulders

Sami Mecheri (1) , Régis Lobjois (2) , Franck Mars (3)

1 IRBA - Institut de Recherche Biomédicale des Armées [Brétigny-sur-Orge]
2 COSYS-PICS-L - Laboratoire sur la Perception, les Intéractions, les Comportements et la Simulation des usagers de la route et de la rue
3 LS2N - Laboratoire des Sciences du Numérique de Nantes

The installation of shoulders on rural roads to create more forgiving roads encourages drivers to cut corners on right-hand bends, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Since eye movements and steering control are closely coupled, this study investigated how the presence of a shoulder influences drivers' gaze strategies. To this end, eighteen drivers negotiated right-hand bends with and without a shoulder on a simulated rural road. In the presence of a shoulder, participants modified their visual sampling of the road by directing their gaze further inside the bend. At the same time, their lane position was deviated inward throughout the bend and the vehicle spent more time out of the lane. These results suggest that the shoulder influences the visual processes involved in trajectory planning. Recommendations are made to encourage drivers to keep their eyes and vehicle in the driving lane when a shoulder is present.

Mots clés: bends; paved shoulder; steering strategies; visual control of steering; driving simulator

Domaines: Psychologie; Autre

Sami Mecheri, Régis Lobjois, Franck Mars. Gaze and steering strategies while driving around bends with shoulders. Applied Ergonomics, 2022, 103, pp.103798. ⟨10.1016/j.apergo.2022.103798⟩. ⟨hal-03670083⟩