THE PERCEPTION OF ARRIVAL TIME FOR DIFFERENT ONCOMING VEHICLES AT AN INTERSECTION

We make an appeal to bring the theoretical tools of ecological psychology to focus on road-traffic accidents that result from making left turns. Following a review of previous arrival-time literature, we report an experiment that was conducted in a fixed-base driving simulator to determine the perceptual basis for judgments to turn left. We manipulated the arrival time (T(a)) of an oncoming vehicle, the viewing distance to that vehicle, and the type of oncoming vehicle. Forty-eight participants were randomly assigned to a group in which a motorcycle, a compact car, a full-size car, or a delivery truck represented the oncoming vehicle. There were equal numbers of male and female participants in the four groups. As T(a) was increased, underestimation of vehicle T(a) also increased. Significant main effects were found for T(a), gender of participants, vehicle type, and viewing distance; significant effects were also found for interactions for gender by T(a) and gender by vehicle type. Men and women differed in their accuracy of judgments for vehicle types; men were more accurate in estimating the arrival of delivery vans and motorcycles than women. The accuracy of T(a) estimation for the type of the approach vehicle and distance removed suggests that participants used vehicle-size information in their judgments. We present a discussion of a number of ''disappearance methodological issues and research applications.