Analysis of Elderly Bus Drivers’ Gaze Behavior on Public Roads Using Eye Camera

Abstract

Since Japan is a super aging society, maintaining safe public transportation service is an important issue. Nevertheless, the number of elderly bus drivers is increasing as rapid aging of the population continues. Our previous study showed that elderly drivers tended to perform less scanning behavior than non-elderlies where driver should simultaneously pay attention to multiple hazards around the vehicle. However, few studies have investigated to understand characteristics of elderly bus drivers’ behavior. In this study, we measured elderly bus drivers gaze behavior while driving in real traffic conditions, and compared the measured data to those of non-elderly bus drivers (drivers in training and bus instructors). As a result of our analysis, we found out that elderly bus drivers performed significantly less checking behavior than even drivers in training in traffic scenes frequently occurred in a daily service, especially traffic scenes where driver should simultaneously pay attention to multiple mirrors and traffics around to prevent accidents.