335 Eye-tracking as a method for evaluation of the driver’s visual strategy

Introduction One of the most important parameters of interest in the study of drivers on the driving simulator is the oculometric data obtained during driving. Using this method we have a direct view of the driver’s eye path and ability to analyse it. The purpose of the study was to trace the places where the driver’s eyes focus when driving on a bus simulator. Materials and methods The study was conducted in a group of randomly selected 45 city bus drivers. Thanks to the use of appropriate infrared cameras, scene cameras and specialised software, data has been obtained and selected using special programs and statistical analysis. By collecting this data we are able to analyse the driver’s eye-path in different situations on the road (urban driving, off-road driving, and stress-based driving). Methods FaceLab was used to track the visual path with infrared cameras. We also use scene cameras and Eyeworks (Record, Analyse) and Captive programs. These programs enabled the visual path to be taken in the form of saccades and fixations applied to a video file with recorded driving data and data from the simulator. Then the image from the scene camera (what the driver saw) was divided into regions (areas in front of the driver’s eye or side mirror surfaces) so it was possible to analyse the individual regions of all the drivers taking part in the experiment. Results The driver during 28.77% of the driving time on the simulator focused on the area of the road directly in front of the vehicle and on the right-hand mirror it was 2.27% of the driving time. Discussions The obtained data confirm that the driver is most likely to look at the road ahead and the area surrounding the right mirror (which is affected by stops at the bus stops).