HOW DISTRACTIONS IMPACT DRIVING

How Distractions Impact Driving

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LITERATURE REVIEW3

Introduction3

References16



LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

Driving is a common activity for many people, making driving safety an important issue in everyday life. Over the 20 years from 1980 to 2000, the number of licensed drivers in the Canada increased 23.7%, from about 154.0 million to 190.6 million (IIHS 2005). Total annual mileage traveled annually in the Canada increased 28.9% from 1990 to 2000 and reached 2,767 billion miles in 2000. Despite of safety improvements in road and vehicle design, the total number of fatal crashes still increases. Motor vehicle-related fatalities increased from 33,186 in 1950 to 42,387 in 2000, while the rate per 100 million miles decreased from 7.24 to 1.53. The increasing number of fatalities demonstrates that driving safety represents a persistent and important issue. Reducing crash involvement would benefit millions of people across the world.

Many motorists in the Canada engage in potentially dangerous distracting activities while driving, including talking on cell phones, according to a survey from the Canadian Automobile Association's (CAA) Foundation for Traffic Safety. Distracted driving accounts for 25 percent to 50 percent of all motor vehicle crashes, it estimates. CAA wants states to include a model section on distracted driving in driver education courses (Beede 2006). The organization's proposed model section includes a discussion on causes of driver distraction, how to deal with common distractions and how to manage emotional and technological distractions while driving. In addition, CAA says it will launch a nationwide radio and TV public-service campaign on distracted driving to reach experienced drivers. (Blanco 2006)

This diversion of attention can occur voluntarily, for example if a driver commits a telephone conversation. It can also occur unintentionally when information from its environment is necessary for the driver and forced him to take it into account. It has been demonstrated on numerous occasions that when a driver is distracted driving performance deteriorated and the risk of accidents increases. The degree of disruption depends on many interrelated factors, such as the attentional demand of the driving task, the attentional demand of the activity distractive and driver characteristics (age, driving experience and his physical and mental) (Stutts 2001).

Many evaluations of driving performance involve more than what can be defined strictly as 'driving', that is, steering the vehicle in an intended direction and applying force to the accelerator and brake pedals until an intended location is reached. A driver may be following a colleague's car to an unfamiliar location, scanning an urban area for 2 potential hazards, or discussing options for dinner in a cellular phone conversation; each situation requires shifting attention away from the 'primary' task of controlling the vehicle as the 'secondary' task requires attention and working memory resources.

As a common example, a driver may be required to actively scan a busy intersection for potential hazards (Insurance Information Institute 2007). A driver who is focused on his driving is likely to be more aware of more aware of his vehicle's status than is a driver who attempts ...