Texting And Driving Simulation Study

Distracted driving by cell phone uses were identified as a major threat in driving, causing serious and sometimes fatal crashes. According to National safety Consul, nearly 25% of all car crashes (1 out of 4) involved cell phone distraction. Only in 2011, cell phone use in motor vehicle crashes caused $100B in damages ( ). Due to the danger it posed to the public, cell phone use in driving has been banned in 37 states in the United State ( ). Moreover, smartphones give this opportunity to us to stay connected at all times not only by calling someone but also by texting and sending emails. These secondary tasks while driving can cause serious safety risks. According to National safety Consul, sixty percent of drivers read (not respond) a text …show more content…
The survey was given through SurveyMonkey to investigate which age groups text more frequently while driving, and what these drivers’ driving habits and styles were. After gaining a better understanding of the driver’s demographics regarding their texting and driving habits, a driving simulation experiment was conducted. Through a virtual-reality driving simulator experiment, it gauged the adverse effects of different forms of texting while driving under various roadway conditions and circumstances on individuals with different ages and genders. Subjects were asked to drive through various scenarios and read texts, or read and respond to texts in both hands-held and hands-free format. In addition to the format of text, two context complexity levels were considered. The context complexity levels affect the cognitive load of drivers. Moreover, during experiment, subjects used their own personal smartphones and speech-to-text system to text in different formats and complexity levels while driving. The findings of this study would allow us to understand the impacts of text driving whether it's hand-held or …show more content…
According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, there are four types of distractions: Visual, Auditory, Manual, and Cognitive ( ). Hands-free or voice text driving involves all four types of distractions at various degrees. A research conducted with both an on-road and a driving simulator experiment including cognitive, visual, and manual tasks with voice prompt and non-voice prompt. It found there are less visual demands upon drivers with voice prompt tasks. Additionally, the difficulty of the tasks were dictated the intensity of mental work load ( ).Interacting with a speech-to-text system was the most cognitively cumbersome activity compared to others such as listening to radio, conversing with passengers, etc. ( ). The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published guidelines for further investigations of this risky behavior. The study involved a driving simulator and occlusion goggles under different text type, length, and ambient conditions. It examined the total eye-off-road time and total shutter open time in these different conditions. Understandably, the guidelines revealed that when the level of ambient complexity and length of text increased the ratio of the total eye-off-road time and total shutter open time also increased. It is worth noting that this ratio slightly increased when reading text rather than entering text ( ).