TY - JOUR PY - 2018// TI - Effects of hands-free cellular phone conversational cognitive tasks on driving stability based on driving simulation experiment JO - Transportation research part F: traffic psychology and behaviour A1 - Yan, Wei A1 - Xiang, Wang A1 - Wong, S. C. A1 - Yan, Xuedong A1 - Li, Y. C. A1 - Hao, Wei SP - 264 EP - 281 VL - 58 IS - N2 - Driver distraction due to cellular phone usage is a major contributing factor to road crashes. This study compares the effects of conversational cognitive tasks using hands-free cellular phone on driving performance under three distraction conditions: (1) no distraction (no cellular conversation), (2) normal conversation (non-emotional cellular conversation), and (3) seven-level mathematical calculations. A car-following scenario was implemented using a driving simulator. Thirty young drivers with an average age of 24.1 years maintained a constant speed and distance between the subject vehicle and a leading vehicle on the driving simulator, and then respond to the leading vehicle's emergency stop. The driving performances were assessed by collecting and statistically analyzing several variables of maneuver stability: the drivers' brake reaction times, driving speed fluctuation, car-following distance undulation, and car-following time-headway undulation. The results revealed that normal conversation on a hands-free cellular phone impaired driving performance. The degree of impairment caused by normal calculation was equivalent to the distraction caused by Level 3 mathematical calculations according to the seven-level calculation baseline. The calculation difficulty of Level 3 is one double-digit figure plus a single-digit figure, and non-carry addition mental arithmetic is required, e.g., 44 + 4. The results indicated that an increase in the level of complexity of the calculation task was associated with an increase in brake reaction time. The seven-level calculation-task baseline could be applied to measure additional distraction effects on driving performance for further comparison.

LA - en SN - 1369-8478 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2018.06.023 ID - ref1 ER -