Analysis of the Influence of Pedestrians' eye Contact on Drivers' Comfort Boundary during the Crossing Conflict

More and more people, especially young people, use their cellphones or earphones while crossing roads. Many research have confirmed the power of eye contact in normal life, in this study, we want to figure out how pedestrians' stare influence on drivers' comfort boundary. The comfort boundary can be observed form the deceleration of cars and it also varies depends on various reasons. We set the drivers' gender and stare attempt as two variations for this study and measure the change of the cars' speed as results. Confederates are asked to stand by the side of the road without crossing to ensure their safety and tried to either make eye contact with the coming driver or just look above the car. It is found that the eye contact with driver can significantly affect the speed regardless of the confederates' and the drivers' gender. The results emphasize the importance of focus when crossing roads and warn the pedestrians not playing to ensure their own safety.