Mutual Interferences of Driving and Texting Performance

Abstract

Despite legislative and social campaigns to reduce texting while driving, drivers continue to text behind the wheel. There is abundant evidence demonstrating that texting while driving impairs driving performance. While past driver distraction research has focused on how texting influences driving, the influence of driving on texting behaviors is often ignored. This study used a classic Lane Change Task and a smartphone texting application to study the mutual influences of driving and texting. Results showed that concurrent texting impaired driving by increasing variability in lane position. Meanwhile, driving impaired texting by increasing the texting task completion time and texting errors, and reduced texting key entry speed. The finding of mutual interferences of driving and texting provides new knowledge for social campaigns, which intend to persuade drivers not to drive while texting, and importantly provides a scientific basis for the development of smartphone-based technology to reduce the risky behavior of driving while texting.