Driver Distraction: Evaluation with Event Detection Paradigm

The effects of eight in-vehicle tasks on driver distraction were measured in a large, moving-base driving simulator. Forty-eight adults, ranging in age from 35 to 66, and 15 teenagers participated in the simulated drive. Hand-held and hands-free versions of phone dialing, voicemail retrieval, and incoming calls represented six of the eight tasks. Manual radio tuning and climate control adjustment were also included to allow comparison with tasks that have traditionally been present in vehicles. During the drive the participants were asked to respond to sudden movements in surrounding traffic. The driver’s ability to detect these sudden movements or events changed with the nature of the in-vehicle tasks that were being performed. Driving performance measures such as lane violations and heading error were also computed. The performance of the adult group was compared with the performance of the teenage drivers. Compared with the adults, the teens were found to choose unsafe following distances, have poor vehicle control skills, and be more prone to distraction from hand-held phone tasks.