Driver distraction and inattention: What are they? - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Driver distraction and inattention: What are they?

Dr Craig Gordon

Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand

c.gordon@alac.org.nz

Presentation at AA Research Foundation Research Symposium, 5-6

th

September, 2011, Wellington, NZ Slide2

Acknowledgments

Dr Michael Regan (IFSTTAR, France)

Charlene

Hallett

(Ph.D. Student, IFSTTAR, France)

Information presented based on:

Regan, M.A.,

Hallett

, C., and Gordon, C. (2011). Driver distraction and driver inattention: Definition, relationship and taxonomy.

Accident Analysis and Prevention, 43

, pp. 1771-1781.

Gordon, C.P., and Regan, M.A. (2011). Driver distraction and inattention and their role in crashes and critical events. In Regan, M.A., Victor, T., and Lee, J.D., (Eds.), Driver

distraction and inattention: Advances in research and countermeasures

. England, UK:

Ashgate

(in preparation). Slide3

Outline

Some definitions

Examples of what studies include

Some themes

Possible framework

*Views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily Government policySlide4

Inattention

“diminished attention to activities critical for safe driving in the

absence of a competing activity

” (Lee et al, 2008)

“improper selection of information, either a lack of selection or the selection of irrelevant information” (Victor et al, 2008)

“when the driver’s mind has wandered from the driving task for

some non-compelling reason

” (Craft and

Preslopsky

, 2009)Slide5

Distraction

“the diversion of attention away from activities critical for safe driving

towards a competing activity

” (Lee et al, 2008)

“diversion of attention from driving, because driver is temporarily focusing on an object, person, task or event

not related to driving

” (

Hedlund

et al, 2005)

“because some event, activity, object or person within [or outside] his vehicle,

compelled or induced

the driver’s shifting of attention away from the driving task” (Treat, 1980)Slide6

NHTSA – GES, FARS, CDS

Inattention includes

Driver distraction

‘Looked but didn’t see’ incidents

Fatigue

Emotional conditions

Physical conditions

Driver distraction

Non-driving related secondary task activity, inside or outside the vehicle

Internal thought – daydreaming, ‘lost in thought’

NHTSA (2010),

Stutts

et al (2005)Slide7

In-depth crash studies

Use human error categories

Recognition error, decision error, performance error and non-performance error

Recognition error category

Inattention –non-driving related internal thought only

Driver distraction – inside and outside the vehicle, non-driving secondary task activity

Inadequate surveillance including ‘looked but didn’t see’

Does not include fatigue or emotional conditions

Treat (1980); LTCCS Study; NMVCCS Study;

Ascone

, Lindsey & Varghese (2009)Slide8

In-depth crash studies (2)

Inattention

interference from internal thought

Attentional

competition

interference between tasks relevant for driving

Distraction

interference from secondary task non-driving related activity

Hoel

et al (2010)Slide9

Naturalistic observational studies

Inattention

Secondary task activity (not necessary for performance of primary driving task)

Fatigued or drowsy driving

Driver related inattention to the forward roadway

(i.e. checking speedometer, blind spots, mirrors, observing traffic during lane changes, looking for parking spots)

Non-specific eye glance away from the forward roadway

Dingus

et al (2006);

Klauer

et al (2006)Slide10

International overview

Driver distraction practice in 16 countries

Most countries exclude fatigue or sleeping as distracted driving

4 countries include emotional distress/elation as distraction BUT 11 countries exclude emotional distress/elation as distracted driving (including NZ)

4 countries include emotional distress/elation as inattention

NHTSA (2010b)Slide11

Driver inattention

Narrowly defined as ‘internal thought’,

or

Covers many different elements that can include:

A lack of attention

Insufficient attention

Cursory attention

Selection of irrelevant information

Looking away from the forward roadway

Secondary task activities i.e. distraction

Drowsiness and other driver stateSlide12

Driver distraction

Key elements considered in defining distraction

Diversion of attention away from driving

Diverted towards a competing activity, event, person, object

Can be inside or outside the vehicle

Always involves non-driving related activity

Some include driving-related activity

Some exclude internal thought

Competing activity may compel or induce the driver to divert attention

Implicit or explicit assumption that safe driving is adversely affected

Regan,

Hallett

& Gordon (2011)Slide13

Possible Framework(Regan,

Hallett

and Gordon, 2011)

Driver inattention

“insufficient, or no attention, to activities critical for safe driving”

Broadly defined, consists of different types of inattention

driver distraction is one formSlide14

Possible Framework

(Regan,

Hallett

and Gordon, 2011)Slide15

Driver diverted attention (Regan,

Hallett

and Gordon, 2011)

Driver diverted attention – akin to driver distraction

“The diversion of attention away from activities critical for safe driving

toward a competing activity

, which may result in insufficient or no attention to activities critical for safe driving”Slide16

Driver Diverted Attention

(Regan,

Hallett

and Gordon, 2011)Slide17

The role of driver state

Some studies/definitions (but not all) include driver state as inattention

i.e. Fatigue, emotional distress/elation

Question over criteria for inclusion – what about other driver states such as alcohol and drugs? On what basis are some driver states included but other driver states not?

In Regan et al model, treated as:

Factors that give

rise to different forms of inattention

or

Factors that influence

the effects of different forms of

inattention

Specific

state related factors (i.e.

microsleeps

, eyes closed)

are included

under restricted inattention Slide18

Key Points

Different opinions about what distraction and inattention are and how they are defined

We propose (Regan,

Hallett

and Gordon)

Inattention has many forms – distraction is one of them, need to discuss what the other forms are

Our framework is part of the discussion

Need to separate out activity from driver state

Acknowledge current tools may not allow us to measure some of the differences in the frameworkSlide19

References

Ascone

, D., Lindsey, T., & Varghese, C. (2009). An examination of driver distraction as recorded in NHTSA databases. Traffic Safety Facts Research Note DoT HS 811-216. National Highway Traffic Safety Authority.

Craft, R,H., &

Preslopsky

, B. (2009). Driver distraction and inattention in the USA large truck and national motor vehicle crash causation studies. Paper presented at the First International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention (28-29 September).

Dingus

, T., et al. (2006). The 100-car naturalistic driving study, Phase II – Results of the 100-car field experiment. Report DoT HS 811-593. National Highway Traffic Safety Authority.

Hedlund

, J., Simpson, H., & Mayhew, D. (2005). International conference on distracting driving: Summary of proceedings and recommendations (2-5 October).

Hoel

, J.,

Jaffard

, M., & Van

Elslande

, P. (2010).

Attentional

competition between tasks and its implications. Paper presented at the European Conference on Human Centred Design for Intelligent Transport Systems (29-30 April).

Klauer

, S., et al. (2006). The impact of driver inattention on near-crash/crash risk: An analysis using the 100-car naturalistic driving study data. Report DoT HS 810-594. National Highway Traffic Safety Authority.

LTCCS Study. (2006). Large truck causation study: Codebook. U.S. Department of Transportation: Federal Motor Vehicle Carrier Safety Administration.

Lee, J.D., Young, K.L., & Regan, M.A. (2008). Defining driver distraction. In Regan, M.A., Lee. J.D., Young, K.L. (Eds.), Driver distraction: Theory, effects and mitigation. CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group.

NHTSA. (2010a). Distracted driving 2009. Traffic Safety Facts Research Note DoT HS 811-379. National Highway Traffic Safety Authority.

NHTSA. (2010b). Overview of results from the international traffic safety data and analysis group survey on distracted driving data collection and reporting. Traffic Safety Facts Crash Stats. Report No. DOT HS 811-404. National Highway Traffic Safety Authority.

NMVCCS. Study (2008). National motor vehicle crash causation survey: Report to Congress. Report No DoT HS 811-059. National Highway Traffic Safety Authority.

Stutts

, J., et al. (2005). Guidance for implementation of the AASHTO strategic highway safety plan: Volume 14 – a guide for reducing crashes involving drowsy and distracted drivers. NCHRP Report No 500, Volume 14. Transportation Research Board.

Treat, J.R. (1980). A study of

precrash

factors involved in traffic accidents. The HSRI Review, 10(1).

Victor, T.W.,

Engstrom

, J., &

Harbluk

, J.L. (2008). Distraction assessment methods based on visual behaviour and event detection. In Regan, M.A., Lee, J.D., Young, K.L. (Eds.), Driver distraction: Theory, effects and mitigation. CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group.