Exploration of the Relationships between Hazard Perception and Eye Movement for Young Drivers

Aiming at young drivers' hazard perception (HP) and eye movement, a cross-sectional study was conducted in the city of Xi'an, China. 46 participants were recruited, and 35 traffic scenes were used to test drivers' hazard perception and eye movement. The difference analysis and correlation analysis were carried out for the acquired data. The results suggest that some indices of hazard perception and eye movement are significantly correlated. A higher saccade speed is in the direction of higher hazardous scenes. Higher complex scenes result in smaller saccade angle. The number of hazards unidentified is negatively influenced by complexity degree and hazardous degree of traffic scenes, and similar associations are found between hazard identification time, complexity degree, and hazardous degree. The hazard identification time and the number of hazards slowly identified are positively affected by the number of fixations and the number of saccades. Meanwhile, differences in the hazardous degree evaluation, hazard identification time, number of hazards unidentified, number of fixations, and number of saccades are found in different types of traffic scenes. The results help us to improve the design of road and vehicle devices, as well as the assessment and enhancement of young drivers' hazard perception skills.