Driver Distraction and Inattention

Abstract

In UDRIVE, the major focus of the work on driver inattention and distraction has been focused on obtaining a better understanding of whether and how drivers manage their secondary task activities — when they choose to engage, what tasks they select, whether they adjust their activity to different situations and whether they are willing to surrender secondary task activities as the primary task of driving becomes more demanding. In other words, the focus is on self-regulation, on how drivers manage their secondary task activity in the context of the dynamics of the traffic and road situation. That management includes the determination not to engage in such tasks in the first place or only to engage in some particular activities. NDS are particularly suited to such an investigation, since experimental studies in driving simulators and even on test tracks tend to suffer from an instruction effect, in that participants are typically instructed to carry out an activity at a given moment. Thus such experimental studies provide insight into how driver attention, driver information processing and driving performance are affected by secondary tasks, but are less useful when research is focused on driver management of task activity.