Distraction Effects of In-Vehicle Number & Text Entry

This book examines distraction effects of in-vehicle number and text entry during motor vehicle operation. An experiment was conducted to assess the distraction potential of secondary tasks using the Alliance of Automotive Manufacturers’ Principle 2.1B verification procedure implemented using specifications obtained from an Alliance member company. Secondary tasks included radio tuning, destination entry, 10-digit dialling, dialling via contact selection, and text messaging were performed using the original equipment systems of a 2010 Toyota Prius V and an iPhone 3GS smart phone. Sixty-three participants 35 to 54 years old drove a low-fidelity, PC-based simulator while performing the secondary tasks. The driving scenario required participants to maintain a 150-ft following distance behind a lead vehicle that was travelling at a constant speed of 50 mph. Alliance driving performance metrics included lane exceedance frequency and the standard deviation (SD) of car-following headway. Two sets of analyses compared present study outcomes with those from a previous study, which used a Dynamic Following and Detection (DFD) protocol that provided both Alliance Principle 2.1 B and other vehicle control and visual target detection metrics. The results are presented in this book.