Effects Of Mobile Phone Use on Driving Performance

 TARGET GROUP: YOUNG DRIVERS

OBJECTIVES

·    To assess the workload and road ordinary violations, utilizing driving data collected from 39 young participants who underwent a dual-task while driving a simulator, i.e., respond to a call, text on WhatsApp, and check Instagram with a better understanding of the driving performance of distracted young drivers and thus they could be useful for further improvements to traffic safety strategies.

SUMMARY

Traffic accidents account for 1.35 million deaths a year on 2018 and keep being a significant cause of injuries and fatalities. This has led countries all around the world to give the highest priority to improve road safety and devote considerable efforts to manage the injury profiles for traffic accidents and develop a safer road traffic system, such as vehicle safety, road infrastructures improvement, enhancement of drivers’ care, traffic rules and regulations, awareness campaigns, etc. As a matter of fact, statistics on traffic accidents and related injuries have shown that 80–90% of traffic incidents are caused by drivers’ operational mistakes, errors and misbehaviors, inattention, fatigue, and distraction. The explosive development of communication means and infotainment technologies affects the driving performance of young drivers, particularly. Indeed, the use of mobile phones while driving has been identified among principal contributors to traffic accidents. This study analyzed, experimentally, changes in the workload and vehicle control (such as lateral distance and hard shoulder line violations) of distracted and non-distracted young drivers. The findings of the present study confirmed the impairments associated with the use of mobile phones among young drivers leading to poor control of the vehicle. Thus, decision-makers need to consider raising awareness of young drivers of mobile phone use risk behind the wheel and encourage the implementation of active measures to mitigate this risk. Actually, some mobile phones are starting to have a driving mode on their operating systems that, when detecting that the user is driving, turns their phone operation into easy-use, or restricted, mode. Moreover, the incorporation of the eye-tracker system as a passive safety measure in vehicles would notify drivers whenever they engage in other activities which distract their attention from the roadway. Meanwhile, educational campaigns targeting young drivers on mobile phone use while driving must be reinforced to minimize risks.

REFERENCE:

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18137101