Cargando…

The impact of road traffic context on secondary task engagement while driving

INTRODUCTION: Driver distraction has been recognized for a long time as a significant road safety issue. It has been consistently reported that drivers spend considerable time engaged in activities that are secondary to the driving task. The temporary diversion of attention from safety-critical driv...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Cuentas-Hernandez, Sandra, Li, Xiaomeng, King, Mark J., Oviedo-Trespalacios, Oscar
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10108847/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37077849
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1139373
_version_ 1785026928028155904
author Cuentas-Hernandez, Sandra
Li, Xiaomeng
King, Mark J.
Oviedo-Trespalacios, Oscar
author_facet Cuentas-Hernandez, Sandra
Li, Xiaomeng
King, Mark J.
Oviedo-Trespalacios, Oscar
author_sort Cuentas-Hernandez, Sandra
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Driver distraction has been recognized for a long time as a significant road safety issue. It has been consistently reported that drivers spend considerable time engaged in activities that are secondary to the driving task. The temporary diversion of attention from safety-critical driving tasks has often been associated with various adverse driving outcomes, from minor driving errors to serious motor vehicle crashes. This study explores the role of the driving context on a driver’s decision to engage in secondary activities non-critical to the driving task. METHOD: The study utilises the Naturalistic Engagement in Secondary Tasks (NEST) dataset, a complementary dataset derived from the SHRP2 naturalistic dataset, the most extensive naturalistic study to date. An initial exploratory analysis is conducted to identify patterns of secondary task engagements in relation to context variables. Maximum likelihood Chi-square tests were applied to test for differences in engagement between types of driver distraction for the selected contextual variables. Pearson residual graphs were employed as a supplementary method to visually depict the residuals that constitute the chi-square statistic.Lastly, a two-step cluster analysis was conducted to identify common execution scenarios among secondary tasks. RESULTS: The exploratory analysis revealed interesting behavioral trends among drivers, with higher engagement rates in left curves compared to right curves, while driving uphill compared to driving downhill, in low-density traffic scenarios compared to high-density traffic scenarios, and during afternoon periods compared to morning periods. Significant differences in engagement were found among secondary tasks in relation to locality, speed, and roadway design. The clustering analysis showed no significant associations between driving scenarios of similar characteristics and the type of secondary activity executed. DISCUSSION: Overall, the findings confirm that the road traffic environment can influence how car drivers engage in distracted driving behavior.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10108847
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-101088472023-04-18 The impact of road traffic context on secondary task engagement while driving Cuentas-Hernandez, Sandra Li, Xiaomeng King, Mark J. Oviedo-Trespalacios, Oscar Front Psychol Psychology INTRODUCTION: Driver distraction has been recognized for a long time as a significant road safety issue. It has been consistently reported that drivers spend considerable time engaged in activities that are secondary to the driving task. The temporary diversion of attention from safety-critical driving tasks has often been associated with various adverse driving outcomes, from minor driving errors to serious motor vehicle crashes. This study explores the role of the driving context on a driver’s decision to engage in secondary activities non-critical to the driving task. METHOD: The study utilises the Naturalistic Engagement in Secondary Tasks (NEST) dataset, a complementary dataset derived from the SHRP2 naturalistic dataset, the most extensive naturalistic study to date. An initial exploratory analysis is conducted to identify patterns of secondary task engagements in relation to context variables. Maximum likelihood Chi-square tests were applied to test for differences in engagement between types of driver distraction for the selected contextual variables. Pearson residual graphs were employed as a supplementary method to visually depict the residuals that constitute the chi-square statistic.Lastly, a two-step cluster analysis was conducted to identify common execution scenarios among secondary tasks. RESULTS: The exploratory analysis revealed interesting behavioral trends among drivers, with higher engagement rates in left curves compared to right curves, while driving uphill compared to driving downhill, in low-density traffic scenarios compared to high-density traffic scenarios, and during afternoon periods compared to morning periods. Significant differences in engagement were found among secondary tasks in relation to locality, speed, and roadway design. The clustering analysis showed no significant associations between driving scenarios of similar characteristics and the type of secondary activity executed. DISCUSSION: Overall, the findings confirm that the road traffic environment can influence how car drivers engage in distracted driving behavior. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-04-03 /pmc/articles/PMC10108847/ /pubmed/37077849 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1139373 Text en Copyright © 2023 Cuentas-Hernandez, Li, King and Oviedo-Trespalacios. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Cuentas-Hernandez, Sandra
Li, Xiaomeng
King, Mark J.
Oviedo-Trespalacios, Oscar
The impact of road traffic context on secondary task engagement while driving
title The impact of road traffic context on secondary task engagement while driving
title_full The impact of road traffic context on secondary task engagement while driving
title_fullStr The impact of road traffic context on secondary task engagement while driving
title_full_unstemmed The impact of road traffic context on secondary task engagement while driving
title_short The impact of road traffic context on secondary task engagement while driving
title_sort impact of road traffic context on secondary task engagement while driving
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10108847/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37077849
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1139373
work_keys_str_mv AT cuentashernandezsandra theimpactofroadtrafficcontextonsecondarytaskengagementwhiledriving
AT lixiaomeng theimpactofroadtrafficcontextonsecondarytaskengagementwhiledriving
AT kingmarkj theimpactofroadtrafficcontextonsecondarytaskengagementwhiledriving
AT oviedotrespalaciososcar theimpactofroadtrafficcontextonsecondarytaskengagementwhiledriving
AT cuentashernandezsandra impactofroadtrafficcontextonsecondarytaskengagementwhiledriving
AT lixiaomeng impactofroadtrafficcontextonsecondarytaskengagementwhiledriving
AT kingmarkj impactofroadtrafficcontextonsecondarytaskengagementwhiledriving
AT oviedotrespalaciososcar impactofroadtrafficcontextonsecondarytaskengagementwhiledriving