Discover How Good A Driver You Are In Eye-Tracking Challenge

Do you consider yourself a better driver than your husband or wife? Have you got more road safety awareness than your son or daughter? Could you show your friends a thing or two when it comes to being king or queen of the roads?

Well now you can put your claim to the test – thanks to some innovative technology and a driving challenge.

Experts from i2 Media Research at Goldsmiths, University of London, have teamed up with East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Safer Roads Humber and Humberside Police to challenge people to take part in a pioneering study.

The experiment will involve volunteers wearing specially-designed glasses which track the movement of their eyeballs and where their line of sight is while they drive.

The eye-tracking glasses transmit the information to a monitor which displays what the person is looking at in real time.

Paul McConnon, senior road safety officer at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said:

“The technology should allow us to determine whether, for example, an experienced driver uses their field of vision more effectively than an inexperienced driver, such as seeing hazards earlier and effectively making them a safer driver.”

The Goldsmiths experts are from the university spin-off i2 Media Research Ltd, which for 15 years has been running research and development projects on how humans and technology can work together.

Prof Jonathan Freeman, of i2 Media and Goldsmiths, said “The glasses have tiny cameras which allow us to track the movements of a person’s eyeballs as they drive and this data is then displayed on a computer as a heat map of where they have been looking.”

The project will research the driving behaviour of people of different age groups and gender and test to see if there is a connection between how experienced drivers are and how safe their driving is.

Kevin Limbert, Safer Roads Humber partnership manager said: “The partnership (along with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner) is pleased to provide the funding for this new piece of research.

“The results will be used by all Safer Roads Humber partners who deliver a wide range of road safety projects across the Humber area, to help reduce the number of people killed or injured on the region’s roads each year.”

If you would like to be considered for the research and have a go at the eye-tracking driving challenge, visit www.eastriding.gov.uk/driverbattle

Volunteers must be able to drive without the need to wear normal glasses. Contact lenses can be worn. People need to register their application by 27 June.