journal article·2025-02-12Open access

Investigation of a Driver’s Reaction Time and Reading Accuracy of Speedometers on Different Instrument Clusters of Passenger Cars

Dragan Ružić, Davor Bratić, Nebojša Nikolić, Boris Stojić, Slavica Mačužić-Saveljić

Applied Sciences· Volume 15· Issue 4

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental investigation of drivers’ reading reaction times and errors when reading a speedometer as a part of a complex instrument cluster. The laboratory-based experiment involved 32 participants and 7 instrument clusters from existing passenger cars. The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of different instrument cluster (IC) designs on the time and accuracy of information retrieval from the speedometer, including correlations with participants’ age and gender. Reaction times ranged from 451 ms to 11,116 ms. Reading accuracy was assessed based on the number of coarse errors, among other factors. The results indicated no influence of participants’ gender on performance, while a moderate positive correlation was observed between reaction time and participants’ age. Specific design features of both the speedometer and the IC that could be related to the results were identified. From the point of view of both reaction time and reading accuracy, centrally located speedometers (whether digital or analog) were found to be more effective. The highest number of coarse errors occurred when participants misread information, attributed to unfavorable layouts and designs of two instrument clusters.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Safety Warnings and Signage · Vehicle emissions and performance · Human-Automation Interaction and Safety

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Department of Mechanization and Design Engineering, Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia

Department of Motor Vehicles and Motors, Faculty of Engineering, University of Kragujevac, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia

Funding

Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation · Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad

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