Individual differences and propensity to engage with in-vehicle distractions A self-report survey

This paper reports on ratings of severity and frequency of engagement with distracting driver behaviours. Survey data was collected using an anonymous online questionnaire, with 482 respondents contributing to the survey during a two-month data collection period.

Results indicate that the three behaviours rated as most distracting when driving were:

• Writing text messages (41%)
• Reading text messages (62%)
• Using a cellular telephone hand-held (52%)

The three most frequently reported distracting behaviours that resulted in accidents were:

• Interaction with child passengers (2.1% – near misses 7.5%)
• Route guidance/destination entry (2% – near misses 2.8%) and use of an ‘add-on media device, e.g., an iPod’ (2% – near misses = 3.9%)
• The three items ‘reading a text message’, ‘following advice from a route guidance system’, and ‘interaction with pets’ (all 1.7% and 6.5%, 3%, and 2.2% respectively for near misses).

The data presents a picture of widespread awareness of, and engagement with, distracting behaviours by drivers in the United Kingdom.