Distracted driving: prevalence, problems, and prevention

Abstract

While the number of motor vehicle crashes has declined over the years, crashes resulting from distracted driving are increasing in the United States resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. The national public seems to be aware of the dangers associated with using technology while driving, but continues to engage in this dangerous behaviour, and may be unaware of or underestimate the impact of cell phone use on their own driving performance. Problems associated with distracted driving are not limited to novice or teenage drivers; multifaceted universal prevention efforts aimed at impacting large segments of the population may have the greatest impact. Legislation limiting drivers' cell phone use has had little impact, possibly due to low regulation and enforcement. Behaviour change programmes, improved vehicle safety, and public awareness campaigns have been developed as potential preventive efforts to reduce accidents caused by distracted drivers.

Distraction of cyclists: how does it influence their risky behaviors and traffic crashes?

“…Overall, road distraction —in short, a deviation of attention, which shifts from tasks critical to safe driving, riding or walking, to another marginal activity—is an increasing and deadly threat to road safety ( Stavrinos et al, 2013 ; Stimpson, Wilson & Muelleman, 2013 ), which has been mainly studied in motorized-vehicle drivers; but, bearing in mind the widely proven impairment that distractions cause to the behavioral performance ( Cooper et al, 2009 ; Craik, 2014 ), they should be studied in the case of every type of road user ( Macy et al, 2014 ; Overton et al, 2015 ). Considering the habitual overstimulation implied by the road environment—especially for what concerns the urban context—distractions not only constitute an everlastingly latent factor for road users, but they also have a proven association with the probability of being involved in a traffic crash ( Oviedo-Trespalacios et al, 2017 ).…”

Distracted Biking

“…Distracted driving and motorcycle riding have been widely studied in the US, Mexico, Brazil, and Italy, and the consensus is that cell phone use while operating a motor vehicle increases the risk that one will be involved in an incident due to be distracted (Rumschlag et al, 2015; Overton, River, Hecht, Shafi, & Gandhi, 2014; Perez-Nunez et al, 2014; daSilva et al, 2012; Pileggi, Bianco, Nobile, & Angelillo, 2006; U.S. Department of Transportation, 2014).…”

“…With AAA leading safety awareness around this issue in the tourism community, future outreach needs to utilize similar resources that already exists but yet tailored to specific audiences so that it is relevant to their safety needs. In line with distracted driving (Overton, River, Hecht, Shafi, Gandhi, 2014), safety campaigns raising public awareness about distracted bicycling are essential and need to begin as soon as possible. Two avenues that can be used to promote and market this safety issue in Boston are through social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.)…”

A Comprehensive Analysis of Distracted Driving Using a Driving Simulator

“…Some researchers use tuning the radio as a benchmark for distracted driving (Lee et al, 2018). Numerous studies show that cell phone usage compromises drivers' attention (Charlton, 2009;Choudhary & Velaga, 2017;Drews et al, 2004;Lipovac et al, 2017;Overton et al, 2015;Schlehofer et al, 2010, Ahangari et al, 2019. However, not all usages of the phone have similar distracting effects.…”