Driving experience and perception of the lead car's braking when looking at in-car targets

Perception of the lead car's braking was measured on-road when subjects of various levels of driving experience were looking at a digital display located at the lower part of the windscreen, at the speedometer level, or in the mid-console. The brake lights of the lead car were either working normally or switched off. The results indicated that the detection of the lead car's brake lights, in daylight, is substantially impaired when a following driver is looking at the speedometer area and brake lights do not contribute to detection at all when he/she is looking at a target in the mid-console. Driving experience did not influence performance in detecting a closing headway in peripheral vision, in contrast to improvement in lane-keeping found in an earlier study. It is suggested that such differential ability in using peripheral vision for lane and distance-keeping may mislead experienced drivers when they follow another vehicle and perform certain in-car tasks.