Effect of Secondary Tasks on Police Officer Cognitive Workload and Performance Under Normal and Pursuit Driving Situations

Abstract

Objective The objective of this study was to assess the effects of single and multiple secondary tasks on officers’ performance and cognitive workload under normal and pursuit driving conditions. Background Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of police line of duty injuries and deaths. These crashes are mainly attributed to the use of in-vehicle technologies and multi-tasking while driving. Method Eighteen police officers participated in a driving simulation experiment. The experiment followed a within-subject design and assessed the effect of single or multiple secondary tasks (via the mobile computer terminal (MCT) and radio) and driving condition (normal vs. pursuit driving) on officers’ driving performance, cognitive workload, and secondary task accuracy and reaction time. Results Findings suggested that police officers are protective of their driving performance when performing secondary tasks. However, their workload and driving performance degraded in pursuit conditions as compared to normal driving situations. Officers experienced higher workload when they were engaged with secondary tasks irrespective of the task modality or type. However, they were faster but less accurate in responding to the radio as compared to the MCT. Conclusion Police officers experience high mental workload in pursuit driving situations, which can reduce their driving performance and accuracy when they are engaged in some secondary tasks. Application The findings might be helpful for police agencies, trainers, and vehicle technology manufacturers to modify the existing policies, training protocols, and design of police in-vehicle technologies in order to improve police officer safety.

Measuring Cognitive Workload of Novice Law Enforcement Officers in a Naturalistic Driving Study

“…Prior studies using PCPS as a measure captured the baseline data before and after the completion of the study (Zahabi et al, 2021). However, in this study, we observed that the baselines collected before the data collection tended to be vastly larger than the baseline values collected at the end of the data collection.…”

“…Higher positive values of PCPS are correlated to higher workload (Pfleging et al, 2016). A previous study on police officers with an average of 7.92 years of experience demonstrated average PCPS values of 10.99% in driving simulator tasks (Zahabi et al, 2021). What this means for the results is that the majority of nLEO participants had a similar or higher average PCPS during the ride-along compared to the average value for more experienced officers.…”

“…Police operations are examples of high-demand driving conditions. Based on the previous studies (e.g., Zahabi et al, 2021), we can assume that novice law enforcement officers' (nLEO) task performance can be reduced due to high CW. Prior studies have found officers' use of in-vehicle technologies while driving (Yager et al, 2015), fatigue (Vila & Kenney, 2002), and lack of sufficient training in handling high-demand situations (e.g., pursuit situations, multi-tasking) (Hembroff et al, 2018) are major contributors of motor vehicle crashes for LEOs.…”

Síntomas Osteomusculares en Policías Militares: Una Investigación de los Factores Psicosociales Correlacionados

“…A carga de trabalho excessiva impacta, de forma significativa, os aspectos emocionais e cognitivos dos profissionais de segurança pública e das instituições policiais (Newell et al, 2022;Sherwood et al, 2019;Souza et al, 2012;Zahabi et al, 2023). A constante exposição a situações de alto risco, as longas jornadas de trabalha e a necessidade de tomar decisões rápidas 13 Artigos em contextos complexos e perigosos, contribuem para a exaustão emocional (Zahabi et al, 2023); bem como surgimento de sentimentos de frustração e impotência, trauma psicológico, aumento do risco de transtorno de ansiedade e transtorno depressivo, Síndrome de Burnout e alterações fisiológicas e do sono (Francisco et al, 2022;Ma et al, 2019;Souza et al, 2012).…”

Simulator-Based Driving Training in Low-Speed Maneuvering for Swedish Police Students

“…Using simulators (if this could be assumed to be an equivalent learning activity to achieve a certain learning objective in police education) could increase teaching and practice opportunities (mass training); generate more individual feedback (pedagogical effect) on certain aspects of driving; and provide the opportunity to gradually increase the cognitive load (dual tasking such as communicating via radio, using GPS, etc.) in a safe environment (e.g., Gustavsson et al, 2020;Zahabi et al, 2021). Furthermore, researchers and instructors could gain increased knowledge about simulator-based training as a pedagogical tool, which could possibly lead to the development of police education in general and reduce the emissions this learning activity generates daily, one of Sweden's 16 environmental quality objectives in relation to Agenda 2030 (Naturvårdsverket, 2021).…”