The impact of in-vehicle cell-phone use on accidents or near-accidents among college students

With in-vehicle use of cell phones rapidly increasing, the safety of young drivers, who represent 14% of licensed drivers but 26% of drivers involved in fatal crashes, may be disproportionately threatened. The authors used a questionnaire to examine the association between in-vehicle cell-phone use and accidents or near-accidents among 1,291 conveniently recruited college students in 4 states. Of the 1,185 respondents who were drivers, 87% had a cell phone, and 86% of the cell-phone owners reported talking while driving at least occasionally. Of the 762 reported accidents or near-accidents, 21% (n = 159) involved at least 1 of the drivers talking while driving. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses showed that the frequency, not the duration, of drivers talking while driving was related to experiencing accidents or near-accidents. Differences between drivers who used cell phones and nonusers in unsafe driving behaviors and attitudes were also examined, and target groups for intervention efforts against talking on a cell phone while driving are suggested.     

The potential role of physical activity on driving performance and safety among older adults

The elderly represent the fastest growing driving population. Older drivers have a high crash rate per distance traveled, a high risk of injury or death in traffic accidents, and are commonly found to be ‘at fault’ in crashes. This reality has focused more interest on issues associated with the fitness to drive and the safety of older drivers. Many older adults depend greatly on their personal vehicle for transportation and suffer a marked loss of quality of life when, as a consequence of no longer being able or permitted to drive, their mobility becomes significantly restricted. The reasons for the deterioration of driving performance that occur during the aging process are multi-factorial and a great deal of research has focused on the identification of those factors. Nevertheless, some studies incorporating training programs have tried, with some success, to improve the driving-related abilities of older drivers. It has been demonstrated that physical activity can promote several skills that are associated with driving performance in older drivers. Few studies, though, have conducted exercise interventions among older drivers intended to enhance their driving-related abilities and promote road safety. In this context, the purpose of this work consists of examining the perceptual, cognitive, health, and physical factors related to fitness to drive in older adults and identifying possible strategies that can enhance their driving-related abilities. Moreover, potential mechanisms underlying the relationship among physical activity, driving ability, and road safety are discussed.     

Angry drivers: a test of state-trait theory

Tested hypotheses from state-trait theory applied to anger while driving. College student drivers high in trait driving anger were compared to drivers low in trait driving anger. High anger drivers were more frequently angered in day-to-day driving (frequency hypothesis). They reported more intense anger in their most angering driving situations, when visualizing provocative driving events, and in day-to-day driving (intensity hypothesis). Driving diaries and surveys showed they engaged in more aggressive behavior and expressed their anger through more verbal, physical, and vehicular means (aggression hypothesis). They reported handling of their anger less well when visualizing provocative events and on the Adaptive/Constructive Expression scale (reduced adaptive expression hypothesis). They engaged in risky behavior (risky behavior hypothesis) and experienced more moving violations, close calls, and losses of concentration, but not more major or minor accidents (partial support for crash-related outcomes hypothesis). High anger drivers were more generally angry and impulsive and employed more negative, less controlled forms of general anger expression. Results supported state-trait theory and added to the literature showing that high anger drivers have some other psychological and behavioral characteristics that may interact negatively with anger behind the wheel.     

DriveID: safety innovation through individuation

The driving task is highly complex and places considerable perceptual, physical and cognitive demands on the driver. As driving is fundamentally an information processing activity, distracted or impaired drivers have diminished safety margins compared with non- distracted drivers (Hancock and Parasuraman, 1992; TRB 1998 a & b). This competition for sensory and decision making capacities can lead to failures that cost lives. Some groups, teens and elderly drivers for example, have patterns of systematically poor perceptual, physical and cognitive performance while driving. Although there are technologies developed to aid these different drivers, these systems are often misused and underutilized. The DriveID project aims to design and develop a passive, automated face identification system capable of robustly identifying the driver of the vehicle, retrieve a stored profile, and intelligently prescribing specific accident prevention systems and driving environment customizations.     

College students use cell phones while driving more frequently than found in government study

OBJECTIVE: Cell phone use while driving is hazardous; it quadruples the risk of a collision and multiplies the risk of a fatality nine-fold. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 8% of young drivers and 5% of all drivers use cell phones while driving. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: The authors trained graduate student volunteers to observe the daytime cell phone use of 3,650 drivers leaving the student exits of college parking structures at a large university. RESULTS: The student observers recorded a cell phone usage rate of 11.1%, which was significantly higher than that seen in the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (p<.00001). Female drivers were 1.51 times more likely to be using a cell phone while driving than were men (12.9% vs 8.6%, p<.001), and drivers with passengers were 0.15 times more likely to drive while telephoning than were solo drivers (1.8% vs 12.1%, p<.001). CONCLUSIONS: The authors offer suggestions for possible interventions to reduce this hazardous behavior.     

Impact of formal and informal deterrents on driving behavior

This paper explores, using panel data of traffic accidents in Japan, how formal and informal deterrence affect driving manners. I found through fixed effects and fixed effects 2SLS estimations that formal deterrents, such as police, cause drivers to drive attentively but that this effect is not inversely associated with dangerous driving. Informal deterrents, on the other hand, impede dangerous driving but do not induce drivers to drive more attentively.     

A Qualitative Exploration of Self-Regulation Behaviors Among Older Drivers

While much of the research on aging and driving has focused on sensory and motor changes, little is known about older drivers and the actual self-regulation adjustments they employ to continue driving safely. This research looks at how older drivers have made changes to driving patterns and behaviors that have allowed them to continue to drive without compromising their perceived safety, independence, and quality of life. Nine focus groups were held with older men and women aged 58 to 89 years. Some of the major themes that emerged were the following: older adults are very aware of age-related changes to driving; they perceive that self-regulation behaviors change with age; and they view transportation alternatives as limited or nonexistent. Policy implications include developing functional transit programs for older adults and car manufacturer training workshops to educate older adults on the safety features of newly purchased automobiles.     

User acceptance of cooperative maneuver-based driving--a summary of three studies

Modern cars offer drivers support with the help of a number of driver assistance systems. Those systems aim to relieve drivers through assumption of sub parts of the driving task (e.g. in case of an Adaptive Cruise Control by regulation of vehicle speed and time gap to preceding vehicle). Today, systems are controlled and monitored separately which leads to efforts to combine the functionality of all systems in an overlying assistance for drivers. The approach of the University of Technology Darmstadt is called Conduct-by-Wire and can be seen as a cooperative maneuver-based driving paradigm, where the driver gives maneuver command to the systems which are automatically executed. This paper summarizes the results of three studies which investigated the user acceptance of this driving paradigm. Overall, it can be said that the acceptance of the system depends on personal traits of the driver and on the driving situation. Almost all participants are willing to use Conduct-by- Wire for routine tasks such as commuting, which makes the systems interesting for company cars. Still, there remain a number of drivers who are not willing to use such a highly automated system at all.     

The Driving Vengeance Questionnaire (DVQ): the development of a scale to measure deviant drivers' attitudes

The Driving Vengeance Questionnaire (DVQ) was developed and administered to assess drivers' use of vengeance when faced with common driving situations. Subjects in the development of the scale were 266 male and female university students. The scale was then administered to 271 university students (both male and female) and 74 male inmates who were classified as either violent or nonviolent offenders on the basis of the amount of force used in committing the offence. A Cronbach alpha of .83 (M = 40.76, n = 310) indicated a high level of internal consistency for the DVQ. Younger drivers (18-23 years old) indicated higher levels of vengeance while driving than did older drivers (24-66 years old, M = 44.35 and 37.81, respectively). Those with less driving experience (0-6 years) expressed higher levels of vengeance while driving than more experienced drivers (6+ years, M = 42.95 and 38.81, respectively). Male drivers responded with greater vengeance to the questionnaire items than females (M = 42.07 and 39.62, respectively). The level of force used in commission of crime failed to correlate with the DVQ. A factor analysis was performed with a different sample of subjects using a slightly modified version of the DVQ to deal with the issue of whether horn honking constituted an appropriate measure of aggression. When the two relevant DVQ items were changed to read "leaning on horn" rather than mere honking, a strong, single factor of vengeance was found to characterize the scale. Suggestions were made for the use of DVQ in the screening of driving license applicants and in the study of problem drivers.     

The relationship between driver aggression,violence, and vengeance

A distinction is made between mild driver aggression and driver violence as unique constructs that differ mainly in frequency of occurrence and severity of outcome. Drivers completed questionnaires assessing the likelihood of engaging in mild driver aggression, the frequency of past driver violence, driving vengeance, and willful violations. Violence was predicted by the interaction of mild aggression and vengeance, such that violence was greater among aggressive drivers, but only for those with elevated levels of vengeance. Driver violence was also predicted by the interaction of mild aggression and violations. Specifically, violence was greater among aggressive drivers reporting traffic violations. The present findings suggest that mild driver aggression and driver violence are linked within a small group of drivers that hold other dangerous driving attitudes and behaviors as part of their typical driving repertoire.     

Mandatory Testing of Drivers on the Basis of Age and Degenerative Diseases: Stakeholder Opinions

Concerns about the driving competence of older drivers have led to policy discussions about mandatory aged-based and disorder-based assessments. This study explored the attitudes, beliefs, and preferences of older adults, law enforcement officers, and licensing authorities toward reexamination of driving skills for persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) and at varying ages. With few exceptions, participants across all groups supported retesting drivers with AD. Moderate support was given for further evaluation of 90-year-olds and those with PD. Least endorsement was given for reassessment of 70-year-old drivers. Findings have implications for legislative changes to address drivers with AD and PD and at older ages.     

Older adults' perspectives on driving cessation

Relinquishing the privilege to drive is a difficult issue for older adults. To better understand factors that influence driving decisions and to identify approaches that could help ease the transition to a non-driving status, we conducted focus groups with elders who had recently stopped driving. Results demonstrate that the decision to stop driving is reluctantly made by elders on their own or after prompting from others. While all have other means of transportation, a sense of loss of independence remains. Participants urged policy makers to address older driver issues and were proponents of developing procedures to identify at-risk drivers. They also stressed the importance of making plans for retirement from driving. Findings suggest that while there is “life after driving,” efforts are needed to help older drivers, and their families develop a plan for driving cessation that includes identifying the appropriate time to stop and acceptable transportation alternatives to driving.     

Determining skill transferability of action games as a method to reduce in-vehicle phone distractions

Distracted driving has been shown to be a safety issue in numerous studies. To combat this problem, in-vehicle technology, legislation, media interventions, and other methods have been proposed and attempted. However research indicates that the drivers themselves may circumvent, ignore, or not be able to react in time for these interventions to be effective. Therefore research into training programs for drivers may improve reaction time under distraction. Research indicates that action game players have faster reaction times and more attentional resources than non-players on paper-based tests. However, transferability to driving has not been studied yet. This paper outlines a study to determine if action game players perform better at a driving task based on frequency of game-play. Participants will be placed into two groups of play (high vs. low) and tested against two levels of distraction (none vs. phone conversation). It is expected that participants who play higher frequency of action games will perform better under distraction than lower frequency players. Driver performance, conversation recall, frequency and durations of eye fixations will be analyzed based on previous research which has validated those variables as a measure of distraction and higher workload.     

Naturalistic observation of drivers' interactions while overtaking on an undivided road

Current models of driving behavior and designs of driver support systems are not taking adequately into account the interactions between drivers. Although a driver's intended maneuver may not be physically possible at a specific time point, it may still be safely executed if the driver's intention is successfully communicated to and interpreted by another driver, who alters the own future trajectory so as to enable the maneuver execution. This paper presents some empirical findings relevant to communicative and cooperative interactions between drivers along naturalistic overtaking maneuvers on an undivided road. The cues used by drivers to interpret other drivers' intention and the drivers' interactions were extracted through video observations of the maneuvers together with the frequency of such interactions per level of traffic risk. The findings show that drivers use formal and informal cues to anticipate other drivers' intention. A significant percentage of maneuvers were performed after facilitation by other drivers. Future studies should focus on this phenomenon while future models of driving behavior should incorporate communicative and cooperative interactions among drivers, so as to design adequate cooperative support systems to enhance road safety.     

Skills of novices early trained or traditionaly trained versus experienced drivers confronted to simulated urban accidents' scenarios

In order to prevent the over-representation of young drivers in car crashes, France instated an early driver training from the age of 16, but the positive effects of this opportunity have not yet been proven. Three groups of male drivers (12 subjects each) were confronted with some prototypical accident scenarios introduced in a simulated urban circuit. The first and second groups were composed of young drivers having less than one month of driving licence; twelve have had a traditional learning course, and twelve had followed, in addition to the initial course, an early driver training under the supervision of an adult. The third group was composed of experienced drivers. Strategies of the three groups were analyzed through their response time, speed and maneuvers. No difference appeared across groups regarding obstacle detection. But traditionally-trained drivers' position control was more conservative than the two others groups, which were more likely to involve efficient evasive action. The exposure gained during early training could thus increase the development of visuo-motor coordination and involve better skills in case of difficult situations. Others accidents' scenarios could be used to confront young drivers with difficult situations not commonly encountered in natural driving.     

Contributions of ergonomics to the construction of bus drivers health and excellence in public transport and at work

This article is the product of research that analyzed the work of bus drivers of a public transportation company that is considered a benchmark reference in its field of operations, in which it strives to achieve operating excellence. Within this context, the authors sought to understand how such a company has managed to maintain a policy that is capable of reconciling quality public transport while also providing working conditions compatible with the professional development, comfort and health of its workers. Ergonomic work analysis and activity analysis were the guiding elements used in this study. Initial analyses indicate that the activity of drivers includes serving a population and providing mobility for it, which depends on driving the vehicle itself and on relationships with colleagues, users, pedestrians, drivers and others.     

Documenting community-level outcomes. Lessons from drinking and driving

Alcohol-related crashes cluster on Friday and Saturday evenings. One objective of this study was to contrast the demographic characteristics of operators who drive at these times with those who do not, through the comparison of data from two of the most widely used methods for gathering information on drinking and driving: Random Digit Dialing Telephone Surveys and Roadside Voluntary Breath Test Surveys. Roadside surveys set up at locations where alcohol-related crashes occur provide a better sample of those drivers most at risk of crash involvement. Telephone surveys, because they do not generally measure the exposure of drivers both in the location of driving and the number of miles driven, are less suited to identifying the drivers at risk. However, they highlight the large number of individuals who drive during high-risk times but avoid high-risk locations.     

Assisted entry mitigates text messaging-based driving detriment

Previous research using cell phones indicates that manual manipulation is not a principal component of text messaging relating driving detriment. This paper suggests that manipulation of a phone in conjunction with the cognitive need to compose the message itself co-act to contribute to driving degradation. This being so, drivers sending text messages might experience reduced interference to the driving task if the text messaging itself were assisted through the predictive T9 system. We evaluated undergraduate drivers in a simulator who drove and texted using either Assisted Text entry, via Nokia's T9 system, or unassisted entry via the multitap interface. Results supported the superiority of the T9 system over the multitap system implying that specific assistive technologies can modulate the degradation of capacity which texting tragically induces.     

Avoiding drunk drivers: the level and sources of protective behavior

Drunk driving has been a concern for a decade and a half, with most discussions of its control centering on offenders. Research on the extent to which citizens engage in behaviors to avoid becoming victims of drunk drivers, however, is in short supply. This project examines the level of participation in protective behaviors, and it assesses the potential sources of self- and other-protection. Our findings indicate that substantial proportions of citizens take action to protect themselves and others from victimization by drunk drivers. We also find limited support for the fear/victimization model and no support for a collective security explanation of protective behavior.