Pedestrian Vision and Collision Avoidance Behavior: Investigation of the Information Process Space of Pedestrians Using an Eye Tracker

This study investigates the Information Process Space (IPS) of pedestrians, which has been widely used in microscopic pedestrian movement simulation models. IPS is a conceptual framework to define the spatial extent within which all objects are considered as potential obstacles for each pedestrian when computing where to move next. Particular foci of our study were on identifying the size and shape of IPS through examining observed gaze patterns of pedestrians. A series of experiments were conducted in a controlled laboratory environment, in which up to 4 participants walked on a platform at their natural speed. Their gaze patterns were recorded by a head-mounted eye tracker and walking paths by laser-range-scanner–based tracking systems at the frequency of 25 Hz. Our findings are three folds: pedestrians pay much more attention to ground surface to detect potential immediate environmental hazards than fixating on obstacles; most their fixations fall within a cone-shape area rather than semicircle; the attention paid to approaching pedestrians is not as high as that to static obstacles. These results led to an insight that the structure of IPS should be re-examined by taking directional characteristics of pedestrians’ vision.