As reported in the New England Journal of Medicine a Virginia Tech research team led by Sheila Klauer, PhD completed a study comparing novice and experienced drivers and risks associated with a number of secondary tasks performed while driving.
The research team found that a number of secondary tasks performed while driving significantly increased risks of crashes or near crashes for novice drivers but did not do so for experienced drivers with the exception of dialing a cell phone. The average age of the novice drivers was 16.4 years and the experienced drivers 36.2 years. Secondary tasks studied required drivers to look away from the road and included dialing or reaching for a phone, texting, reaching for objects other than phones, looking at roadside objects and adjusting various controls in the vehicle.
The study also found that the frequency with which novice drivers engaged in potentially risky secondary tasks increased over time but remained relatively constant for experienced drivers. Data was obtained from devices installed in the study participants’ vehicles from 2006-08 for novice drivers and from 2003-2004 for experienced drivers. Activities which had the highest likelihood of crashes or near crashes for novice drivers and experienced drivers respectively were dialing a cell phone, 8.32 and 2.49 ; reaching for objects other than phone 8.0 and 1.19; reaching for phone 7.05 and 1.37: and texting/internet 3.87 (data only obtained for novice drivers).
The researchers separated the tasks of dialing a cell phone from actually talking on a cell phone and concluded that “talking on a cell phone was not associated with a significant increase in the risk of a crash among novice or experienced drivers, whereas dialing was associated with an increased risk in both groups.” The authors did reference studies by other researchers using simulated driving conditions that concluded that talking on a cell phone reduced attention to roadside hazards and degraded driving performance and acknowledged that “talking on a cell phone can rarely be accomplished without reaching for it.” To read the entire article go to http://www.nejm.org
How does this research affect educational efforts to reduce distracted driving crashes? From EndDD.org’s perspective here are the take aways:
- Efforts to educate teens about distracted driving are crucial given the inability of novice drivers to perform secondary tasks safely
- Educational efforts must not be limited to texting but must include all forms of distraction
- While even experienced drivers should not perform secondary tasks while driving they may able to get away with it longer because of their experience but novice drivers likely can not
- Experienced drivers, including parents, must be good role models for novice drivers and not engage in secondary tasks while driving
- Given that the study was biased toward examining visual distractions , did not specifically address cognitive distractions and that the tasks of dialing a cell phone and talking on a cell phone were separated the results for cell phone use should not be used to suggest that talking on a cell phone is not a high risk behavior when driving. See Strayer, et al, 2013 , Cognitive-Distraction_AAAFTS-Research-Compendium.pdf
