Do we really need to use our smartphones while driving?

Monitoring Distracted Driving Behaviours with Smartphones: An Extended Systematic Literature Review

Driver behaviour monitoring is a broad area of research, with a variety of methods and approaches. Distraction from the use of electronic devices, such as smartphones for texting or talking on the phone, is one of the leading causes of vehicle accidents. With the increasing number of sensors available in vehicles, there is an abundance of data available to monitor driver behaviour, but it has only been available to vehicle manufacturers and, to a limited extent, through proprietary solutions. Recently, research and practice have shifted the paradigm to the use of smartphones for driver monitoring and have fuelled efforts to support driving safety. This systematic review paper extends a preliminary, previously carried out author-centric literature review on smartphone-based driver monitoring approaches using snowballing search methods to illustrate the opportunities in using smartphones for driver distraction detection. Specifically, the paper reviews smartphone-based approaches to distracted driving behaviour detection, the smartphone sensors and detection methods applied, and the results obtained.

The use of mobile phone while driving: Behavior and determinant analysis in one of the largest metropolitan area of Italy

The use of mobile phones while driving is one of the main causes of road accidents and it is a phenomenon in continuous growth. The key aim of this study is to analyse simultaneously knowledge, attitudes, and behavior toward the use of mobile phones while driving in one of the largest and populous metropolitan areas of Italy, Naples. The data acquired from 774 questionnaires - administered to subjects evenly divided by gender and with an average age of 39 years - revealed that 69 % have used their mobile phone while driving at least once in their lifetime. Among those who used the phone, 63.6 % use it to make phone calls while 75.2 % only to answer them; 49.1 % read messages and only 33.3 % write them. It is also notable that 34.1 % do not stop to answer a call and only 10 % do not value the use of headsets while driving as fundamental. The results indicate that cell phone usage while driving is common in the study population, despite many having university-level education and satisfactory risks awareness. The multiple linear regression analysis shows how knowledge is not correlated to the behavior held. On the contrary, attitudes are strongly correlated to knowledge and behavior, meaning that good attitudes bring forth positive behavior. According to the collected data and statistical analysis, it is possible to identify factors that can greatly affect the use of mobile phone while driving and establish targeted prevention programs.

Do beliefs differ between frequent and infrequent hand-held and hands-free phone users while driving? A Polish study

Aim

Although it is currently legal in Poland to use a hands-free mobile phone while driving, research suggests that it is not significantly safer than using a hand-held mobile phone. The present study used the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to examine the relationships that three types of beliefs (behavioural, normative and control beliefs) have with the frequency of drivers’ hands-free and hand-held mobile phone use.

Subjects and methods

The sample comprised 298 Polish drivers (35% females) aged between 18 and 40 years old (mean age: 21.05 years, standard deviation = 2.38).

Results

Two multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) were conducted to investigate the differences between the two groups (hand-held and hands-free) of frequent and infrequent mobile phone users, with regard to their behavioural, normative and control beliefs. Significant differences were found in all of the control beliefs for both hand-held and hands-free mobile phone users. Similar normative differences were identified for both hands-free and hand-held mobile phone use, but while three behavioural beliefs differed significantly for hands-free use, no behavioural beliefs were significant for hand-held mobile phone use. Finally, composite measures of the behavioural and control beliefs were predictive of being a frequent hand-held mobile phone user, but none of the three beliefs were predictive of being a frequent hands-free user.

Conclusions

These results demonstrate potential directions for behavioural change aimed at reducing or preventing the use of mobile phones while driving.

Exploring the impact of "soft blocking" on smartphone usage of young drivers

Smartphone usage while driving, and particularly texting, are well recognized as a major road safety concern. This paper presents an attempt to evaluate the effect of countermeasures aimed at mitigating this usage. These countermeasures, which are automatically activated, may be considered "soft blockers": silencing and hiding notifications, as well as sending an automatic reply to the person trying to contact the driver. A naturalistic study was conducted with 167 young Israeli drivers, who installed a research-oriented smartphone app, which continuously monitored their smartphones usage while driving and, in addition, activated "soft blocking" in the study's intervention stage. The evaluation is based on measures which capture the number of times drivers "touch" their smartphone screens, and on the vehicle's speed when these screen-touches occur. The results, based on 6633 hours of driving logged on 23,019 trips, indicate that a reduction of approximately 20% was obtained in the average number of screen-touches during the intervention stage of the study; that is, in the experimental groups but also in the control group, which was merely monitored. In addition, when young drivers touched the screen, the vehicle was more likely not in motion. The current paper highlights the potential of "soft blockers", as well as the awareness of being monitored, for mitigating smartphone usage while driving.

Risk factors of mobile phone use while driving in Queensland: Prevalence, attitudes, crash risk perception, and task-management strategies

Distracted driving is one of the most significant human factor issues in transport safety. Mobile phone interactions while driving may involve a multitude of cognitive and physical resources that result in inferior driving performance and reduced safety margins. The current study investigates characteristics of usage, risk factors, compensatory strategies in use and characteristics of high-frequency offenders of mobile phone use while driving. A series of questions were administered to drivers in Queensland (Australia) using an on-line questionnaire. A total of 484 drivers (34.9% males and 49.8% aged 17-25) participated anonymously. At least one of every two motorists surveyed reported engaging in distracted driving. Drivers were unable to acknowledge the increased crash risk associated with answering and locating a ringing phone in contrast to other tasks such as texting/browsing. Attitudes towards mobile phone usage were more favourable for talking than texting or browsing. Lowering the driving speed and increasing the distance from the vehicle in front were the most popular task-management strategies for talking and texting/browsing while driving. On the other hand, keeping the mobile phone low (e.g. in the driver's lap or on the passenger seat) was the favourite strategy used by drivers to avoid police fines for both talking and texting/browsing. Logistic regression models were fitted to understand differences in risk factors for engaging in mobile phone conversations and browsing/texting while driving. For both tasks, exposure to driving, driving experience, driving history (offences and crashes), and attitudes were significant predictors. Future mobile phone prevention efforts would benefit from development of safe attitudes and increasing risk literacy. Enforcement of mobile phone distraction should be re-engineered, as the use of task-management strategies to evade police enforcement seems to dilute its effect on the prevention of this behaviour. Some countermeasures and suggestions were proposed in the design of public education campaigns and driver-mobile phone interaction.

Texting while driving, executive function, and impulsivity in college students

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the cognitive processes underlying texting while driving. A sample of 120 college students completed a survey to assess how frequently they send and read a text message while driving. Based on this information, students were assigned to one of two groups: 20 students who frequently text while driving and 20 matched-control students who infrequently text while driving but were similar in gender, age, years of education, and years driving. The groups were compared on the extent to which they differed in self-reported measures of executive function and impulsivity. The groups were also compared on a behavioral measure of impulsivity: the extent to which they discounted hypothetical monetary rewards as a function of the delay. For this measure, the students made repeated choices between smaller monetary rewards available immediately and larger rewards available after delays ranging from 1 week to 6 months. The results show that the group of students who frequently text while driving showed (a) significantly lower levels of executive function and (b) higher levels of self-reported impulsivity, although the groups did not differ significantly on the behavioral measure of impulsivity. These results support a general conclusion that drivers with lower levels of executive function and higher levels of impulsivity are more likely to text while driving.

A behavioral economic analysis of texting while driving: Delay discounting processes

The purpose of the present study was to examine an impulsive decision-making process underlying texting while driving from a behavioral economic perspective. A sample of 108 college students completed a novel discounting task that presented participants with a hypothetical scenario in which, after receiving a text message while driving, they rated the likelihood of replying to a text message immediately versus waiting to reply for a specific period of time. Participants also completed a delay discounting task in which they made repeated hypothetical choices between obtaining a larger amount of money available after a delay and an equal or lesser amount of money available immediately. The results show that the duration of the delay is a critical variable that strongly determines whether participants choose to wait to reply to a text message, and that the decrease in the likelihood of waiting as a function of delay is best described by a hyperbolic delay discounting function. The results also show that participants who self-reported higher frequency of texting while driving discounted the opportunity to reply to a text message at greater rates, whereas there was no relation between the rates of discounting of hypothetical monetary rewards and the frequency of texting while driving. The results support the conclusion that texting while driving is fundamentally an impulsive choice.