Perceptual, Cognitive, and Environmental Influences on Driver s Speed Control

The purpose of the present driving simulation study was to investigate the effect of eye-level(distance above the ground), and level of complexity and modality of distracters on driving speed. The results showed that drivers at higher eye-level drove faster than those at a lower eye-level, faster in the simple road condition than in the complex road condition. Driving speed was highest in the auditory-simple distracter condition, lowest in the visualcomplex distracter condition, and medium in the auditory-complex and visual-simple distracter conditions when the each combination of modality-distracter type was compared. Based on these observations, a hypothetical model for the relationship between the drivers speed control and amount of cognitive workload was proposed and discussed.