Pleasure motoring and the view from the road.

A study has been made of the opinions of car drivers and passengers on the views from a number of rural roads. Eleven journeys on various types of roads were filmed from the front of a moving vehicle using a 180 degree field of view camera system. The films were projected onto screens around the front of a stationary motor car to simulate journeys along sections of road. The features at which drivers and passengers looked were noted using an eye mark recorder. The drivers and passengers rated the attractiveness of the simulated journeys and, separately, still photographs of views from various roads. No statistically significant difference was found between the ratings of the simulated journeys and the still photographs, and no simple relations were found between where a person looked and how attractive a journey was considered to be. Drivers were divided between those who preferred narrow, winding, roads which presented a challenge and those who preferred modern a roads on which they felt more relaxed. Motorways and dual carriageway roads were considered unattractive for pleasure motoring. (Author/TRRL)