Hazard perception as a function of target location and the field of view

A typical hazard perception test presents participants with a single-screen view of the road ahead. This study assessed how increasing this field of view would affect hazard perception abilities. Drivers were shown video clips of driving situations containing at least one hazard either on a single screen, or with the addition of side views on two separate but adjacent screens that extended the perceived worldview to approximately 180°. Mirror information was also included to allow information from behind the vehicle to be attended. Participants were instructed to press a button as soon as they saw a hazard. Faster response times were found for hazards that appeared in the centre of the central screen, than in the periphery of the central screen, with hazards that first appeared in the lateral screens responded to slowest. Additionally, responses to the hazards were faster and were more likely to occur in the three-, as compared to the single-screen condition. These results suggest that providing participants with a wider field of view, which includes more environmental cues that are related to the relevant hazardous situation increases their ability to detect hazards, and some limited support to that providing them with a wider view increases this ability even when all hazard-relevant information appear only in the central screen. A number of reasons for the three-screen advantage are discussed. This study suggests that even responses to central hazards may be under-estimated in a typical single-screen hazard perception test, and that improvements can be made for new hazard perception tests, by including visual information from the side and from behind the driver. This new methodology not only allows testing hazard perception skills in a potentially more immersive and realistic environment, but also enables to create hazard perception clips that cannot be realised in a typical single-screen test.