The effects of a mobile telephone task on driver behaviour in a car following situation

Abstract

The effects of a mobile telephone task on young and elderly drivers choice reaction time, headway, lateral position, and workload were studied when the subjects were driving in a car-following situation, in the VTI driving simulator. It was found that a mobile telephone task had a negative effect upon the drivers choice reaction time, and that the effect was more pronounced for the elderly drivers. Furthermore, the subjects did not compensate for their increased reaction time by increasing their headway during the phone task. The subjects mental workload, as measured by the NASA-TLX, increased as a function of the mobile telephone task. No effect on the subjects lateral position could be detected. Taken together, these results indicate that the accident risk can increase when a driver is using the mobile telephone in a car following situation. The reasons for the increased risk, and possible ways to eliminate it, are also discussed.

Accounting for time-dependent covariates in driving simulator studies

“…The results indeed showed that auditory distractions generate a faster response than the non-distracted condition (auditory distraction vs. no distraction: t(138) ¼ À2.08, p < 0.05, mean difference À0.328 seconds (95% CI À0.640, À0.017); visual distraction vs. no distraction: t(138) ¼ À0.23, p > 0.05, À0.232 seconds (CI À0.545, 0.082)). However, these results conflict with welldocumented results that show that distractions degrade driving performance (Brown et al 1969, Alm and Nilsson 1995, Cooper and Zheng 2002, Lam 2002.…”

Driving while using a smartphone-based mobility application: Evaluating the impact of three multi-choice user interfaces on visual-manual distraction

“…Although the safety risk of using mobile devices while driving is well documented (Alm and Nilsson, 1995;Young et al, 2007;Treffner and Barrett, 2004;Horberry et al, 2006). Innovative applications targeting In-Vehicle Infotainment Systems (IVIS) are likely to place an increasingly high workload on the driver.…”

Strategic changes in task performance in simulated car driving as an adaptive response to task demands

“…Another fear is that of narrowing of attention. Alm and Nilsson (1995) warned that high task demands may lead to narrowing of attention, which is unwanted in situations that ask for a more global type of attention, for example, near intersections. However, results from Crundall et al (1999) show that attention is actually directed at hazardous events when they present themselves, away from extra-foveal regions of the visual ®eld.…”