Effects of Searching for Street Parking on Driver Behaviour, Physiology, and Visual Attention Allocation: An On-Road Stud

Urban areas with street parking exhibit a heightened crash-risk compared to similar environments that do not allow street parking. It is unknown whether drivers searching for parking engage in unsafe driving behaviours that contribute to this heightened crash risk. An on-road study was conducted to quantify the effects of searching for parking on drivers. Twenty-eight participants wearing physiological sensors and a head-mounted eye-tracker drove an instrumented vehicle in downtown Toronto. When searching for parking, participants had lower speeds and speed variability, and drove closer to the curb. They also exhibited fewer off-road glances under 1.6 seconds but an increased number over 1.6 seconds. While searching for parking, participants experienced a marginal increase in heart rate. These observations are in line with the self-reported increase in workload expressed by participants. Further research is needed to investigate how these changes affect the safety of the road environment.