An Overview of the Factors Associated with Driver Distraction and Inattention Within the South African Railway Industry

Types, Risk Factors, Consequences, and Detection Methods of Train Driver Fatigue and Distraction

“…Driver distraction is essentially due to the presence of a second task that interferes with the main task (driving task) [ 42 ]. In parts of the world where rail communications are not well developed such as South Africa, cell phones are an important tool for train drivers to communicate with other railroad workers and are used to compensate for the instability of radio communications [ 43 ]. However, the use of cell phones while driving has been shown to cause distraction and has also been shown to significantly reduce the visual search patterns used by drivers, reaction time, processes used for decision making, and the speed of the driver's ability to maintain [ 44 ].…”

Challenges in managing technological disasters in Cameroon: Case study of Cameroon's worst train Crash—the Eséka train disaster

“…A review of the causes of train accidents reveals that the main causes are infrastructure failures leading to derailment [5]; higher speeds and increased passenger traffic [2]; train driver distraction, inattention and non-compliance with train safety measures [6]. However, these attributes are worst in developing countries partly due to poor crash mitigation and safety systems [2,6], and limited regulations or incomplete enforcement of existing rules [7].…”

“…Interestingly, research on technological hazards in many developing countries rarely focus on train accidents although it is responsible for one of the highest death rates in the transport sector. The few researches focus more on technology related train and railway safety, railway regulation and enforcement policies [2,6,7]. Moreover, whilst the prevailing disaster management (DM) practices of most developing countries are more reactive than proactive, managing response and recovery is ineffective [8].…”