Abstract
Mobile phone use while driving has become one of the leading causes of traffic accidents and poses a significant threat to public health. This study investigated the impact of speech-based texting and handheld texting (two difficulty levels in each task) on car-following performance in terms of time headway and collision avoidance capability; and further examined the relationship between time headway increase strategy and the corresponding accident frequency. Fifty-three participants completed the car-following experiment in a driving simulator. A Generalized Estimating Equation method was applied to develop the linear regression model for time headway and the binary logistic regression model for accident probability. The results of the model for time headway indicated that drivers adopted compensation behavior to offset the increased workload by increasing their time headway by 0.41 and 0.59 s while conducting speech-based texting and handheld texting, respectively. The model results for the rear-end accident probability showed that the accident probability increased by 2.34 and 3.56 times, respectively, during the use of speech-based texting and handheld texting tasks. Additionally, the greater the deceleration of the lead vehicle, the higher the probability of a rear-end accident. Further, the relationship between time headway increase patterns and the corresponding accident frequencies showed that all drivers’ compensation behaviors were different, and only a few drivers increased their time headway by 60% or more, which could completely offset the increased accident risk associated with mobile phone distraction. The findings provide a theoretical reference for the formulation of traffic regulations related to mobile phone use, driver safety education programs, and road safety public awareness campaigns. Moreover, the developed accident risk models may contribute to the development of a driving safety warning system.
Highlights
Mobile phone use while driving is a very common phenomenon, and it has become one of the main factors in the occurrence of traffic accidents all across the world [1,2,3]
The reason that the drivers chose a larger time headway in conditions of engaging in handheld texting resulted in greater workload and increased the time they had to take their eyes off handheld texting tasks is that handheld texting resulted in greater workload and increased the time the road compared to speech-based texting, and the drivers chose a larger time headway to maintain they had to take their eyes off the road compared to speech-based texting, and the drivers chose a driving safety [36]
This study develops the linear regression model for time headway and the binary logistic regression model for accident probability based on the Generalized Estimating Equation method
Summary
Mobile phone use while driving is a very common phenomenon, and it has become one of the main factors in the occurrence of traffic accidents all across the world [1,2,3]. Many countries prohibit the use of mobile phones during driving, this phenomenon is still very widespread. Previous studies in China have shown that 84.1% of drivers (n = 414) reported talking on a phone at least once a week [4]. In the United States (n = 3265), a study based on roadside observations found that 48% of all distracted drivers engaged in using mobile phones while driving [5]. In European countries such as Spain, it has been reported that the proportion of drivers for text messaging, having. Public Health 2020, 17, 1328; doi:10.3390/ijerph17041328 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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