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Summary:The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of iPod interactions on driver performance over several sessions to determine the distraction effect of iPods on driver performance, as well as to see if performance decrements declined with practice. Nineteen younger drivers (mean age = 19.4, range 18 to 22) participated in a seven-session study in the University of Calgary Driving Simulator. Drivers encountered a number of critical events such as pedestrian incursions, lead vehicle braking, and pullout vehicle events, on the roadways. These events were encountered both while driving alone and when performing iPod tasks of varying difficulty. Participants' hazard response, frequency of collisions and eye movement measures were examined to determine if there were any changes in performance related to iPod distraction and practice effects. Increases in perception response time (PRT) and frequency of collisions were found during the difficult iPod interactions. The number and duration of glances made into the vehicle increased significantly while performing the difficult iPod interactions, reducing the number of glances made to the roadway. Over the course of the sessions, performance improved significantly in all secondary task conditions, but performance decrements still remained in the difficult iPod condition compared to the baseline.

The goal of this study was to identify the influence of peripheral visual field loss (VFL) on driving performance in a motion-based driving simulator. Sixteen drivers (6 with VFL and 10 with normal visual fields) completed a 14 km simulated drive. The simulated scenarios included changes in road geometry, merging, lead vehicle braking and incursion events; outcome measures were head movements, lane position, accelerator release time, collisions, and subjective assessment of driving patterns. There were significant differences between groups in some driving performance measures. Those with VFL demonstrated more variability in lane maintenance on curves and when departing the freeway, as well as delayed accelerator release and reduced time to simulated collision during an unexpected hazard event. VFL participants did not exhibit expected compensatory behaviors such as greater variability in head movements. The results suggest some differences in driving performance and driving patterns between the groups.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of cell phones on novice drivers and the implications that the results of the study may have on the graduated licensing (GDL) restrictions. Twenty Novices, with less than 6 months of driving experience, and 20 Experienced drivers, with more than 10 years of experience, participated in the study. Perception response time (PRT) to hazards and eye movement measures were analyzed to determine if decrements in driver performance resulted during traffic events compared to baseline responses when using either a cell phone or CD player in the University of Calgary Driving Simulator. Results showed longer PRTs for the Novice compared to Experienced drivers for the lead vehicle braking, pedestrian, and vehicle pull out events. During the CD task increased glances into the vehicle and decreased rearview mirror glances were found. Implications of this research for cell phone restrictions within graduated licensing programs are discussed.