Good intentions: drivers\u2019 decisions to engage with technology on the road and in a driving simulator

Katie J Parnell,Katherine L Plant,Neville A Stanton

doi:10.1007/s10111-018-0504-0

Katie J Parnell, Katherine L Plant + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-018-0504-0

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Abstract

Distraction-related accidents are, more often than not, due to the drivers’ voluntarily engagement with a secondary task. Therefore, the strategic management of in-vehicle tasks and the drivers’ decision to engage with them is an important aspect of the driver distraction phenomenon that needs to be addressed. While the consequences of distracting tasks are often assessed in settings where the risk of engaging is reduced (i.e., simulators), the drivers’ decision to engage with secondary tasks is often ignored. This study assessed the drivers’ decision to engage with secondary tasks using verbal protocols to provide insights into the drivers’ intention within a naturalistic driving setting, on the road, and in a simulated driving environment. This enabled an understanding of when drivers engage with technological distractions, why they choose to do so, as well as how they may go about doing it. Different road types were found to differentially impact the drivers’ intention to engage, as did the types of secondary tasks, with some tasks having an increased willingness to engage compared to others. Factors that increase and/or reduce the likelihood of engaging are presented. The decisions that drivers made to engage with secondary tasks in the simulator were found to correlate strongly to their decision to so on the road. This provides support for the use of simulators when assessing the drivers’ decision to engage with secondary tasks. The effect of verbal protocols on the drivers’ speed metrics was assessed to determine how they may have affected their driving performance.

Highlights

The use of technology by drivers has long been a concern for safety practitioners and researchers who are aware of the distractive potential that secondary tasks have on the primary driving task (Brown et al 1969; Stutts et al 2001; Regan et al 2008; Young and Regan 2007; WHO 2011)
“if I had my sat-nav kind of up here I could start to slowly enter the destination and just kind of maybe doing one step at a time and looking back to the road to make sure nothing’s changed” (Participant 3). These findings suggest that, once drivers have made the strategic decision to engage with the task, they adapt their behaviour on a momentary basis to integrate the primary and secondary task, a feature of adaption at the control level (Schömig and Metz 2013)
The decision to engage with secondary tasks has been under-researched in previous years, with the active role of the driver and the surrounding sociotechnical system in the management of the interaction with secondary tasks often ignored

Summary

Introduction

The use of technology by drivers has long been a concern for safety practitioners and researchers who are aware of the distractive potential that secondary tasks have on the primary driving task (Brown et al 1969; Stutts et al 2001; Regan et al 2008; Young and Regan 2007; WHO 2011). Device manufacturers have allowed the integration of technology within the vehicle and the development of portable technologies that can be brought into the vehicle They are promoting the driver to self-regulate their interactions in line with their own motivations and intentions (Horrey and Lesch 2009; Lee 2014). In a more recent analysis of crash reports, Beanland et al (2013) found 70% of distraction-related crashes to be voluntarily engaged by the driver. This suggests that distractions occur as a result of the individual making the considered decision to engage with secondary tasks, despite being aware of the risks. The Prioritise, Adapt, Resource, Regulate, Conflict (PARRC) model of distraction (Parnell et al 2016) proposed ‘Behavioural regulation’ to be one of the five key factors in distraction from technological sources which reflects the self-management of attention, effort, attitudes and emotions to facilitate goal attainment in the development of distraction-related events

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