It’s all in the mind: The relationship between mindfulness and nomophobia on technology engagement while driving and aberrant driving behaviours

This study investigated the relationship between mindfulness and nomophobia on technology engagement while driving and aberrant driving behaviours. Nine hundred and ninety participants completed an online survey (Female: 68.6%; Age: M = 51.2 years, SD = 15.7, Range = 18.0–84.0 years) that assessed mindfulness, nomophobia, technology engagement while driving, aberrant driving behaviour, and self-reported crashes and infringements during the past two years. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to examine the relationships between mindfulness and nomophobia, on one hand, with self-reported engagement with technology while driving and general aberrant driving behaviours (combination of errors, lapses and violations) on the other. The results of the SEM showed that, as expected, mindfulness shared negative relationships with nomophobia, engagement with technology and aberrant driving behaviours, while all other relationships were positive. In terms of engagement with technology, there were direct and indirect paths between nomophobia and mindfulness and engagement with technology. The results of this study demonstrate the positive influence mindfulness can have on nomophobia, engagement with technology while driving, and dangerous driving behaviours that have been associated with crash risk. Mindfulness practices may reduce the effect of nomophobia on engagement with technology while driving and increased dangerous behaviours as a result. This will be increasingly important as modern work and social practices encourage people to increasingly use the phone while driving, and the technology within smart devices, and connectivity of these to the vehicle, increase. More research is needed to understand whether mindfulness-based interventions can reduce nomophobia, and thereby improve driving behaviours and reduce crash rates.     

The electric vehicle: A new driving experience involving specific skills and rules

The arrival of the electric vehicle (EV) on the market is one consequence of government measures to improve air quality and reduce CO² emissions. However, the EV has specific properties of use associated with its limited range and relative silence compared to normal vehicles, influencing the mobility behaviours of drivers and requiring them to develop some new driving abilities. This paper examines the behavioural modifications brought about by daily use of an electric vehicle at three different levels of driving activity: strategic, tactical and operational. The study collected and analyzed the self-reported behaviours (via questionnaires and travels dairies) of 36 Parisian private drivers, each of whom drove for six months an electric MINI E prototype. The results of the study show that driving an EV requires a learning phase to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to operate the vehicle. At the strategic level of driving, drivers take into account the restricted range of the EV, implement a daily charge process, and develop new behaviours related to trip planning. The study also examines driver behaviour at the tactical level, in terms of driver interactions with other road users to deal with the silent nature of the EV, and at the operational level of driving, in terms of braking behaviour to master the regenerative braking function of the EV. The paper discusses the interactions between these three levels of driving activity.     

Eyes on the road,hands upon the wheel? Reciprocal dynamics between smartphone use while driving and job crafting

Smartphones are essential tools for communications and information management in organizational settings. However, smartphone use is a risky behavior when used while driving to and from work. As work experiences have been found to influence risky commuting behaviors, we hypothesized that job crafting, i.e., a set of proactive work behaviors through which employees change their job demands and resources, influences and is influenced by risky commuting behaviors. We argued that employees' smartphone use during driving commutes is related to how employees proactively choose to transform their demands and resources at work. A quantitative diary study was designed to investigate the process linking smartphone use during driving commutes to and from work and job crafting. A sample of 128 office employees completed two short daily questionnaires for five consecutive workdays (N = 627 observations). Results from multilevel analyses showed that daily talking on the phone while driving to work was positively associated with the proactive optimization of job demands, while daily proactive pursuing of challenging stimuli at work (i.e., seeking challenges) was positively related to looking at the phone when employees drove back from work. Furthermore, on days when employees reduced their hindering job demands, they reported less frequent talking on the phone while driving back from work. Results provide practical implications for the prevention of distracted driving and other risky driving behaviors.     

Driver distraction based lane-keeping assistance

Driver assistance systems could be much more effective, if they were adaptive to the driver’s state. Following the idea of a lane-keeping assistance system, which is adaptive to the use of in-vehicle information systems (IVIS), two field experiments were conducted. The first experiment concerned the influence of typical IVIS tasks on lane-keeping. Most IVIS tasks increased the lateral deviations, but in the majority of cases the drivers were still able to stay in their lane.The second experiment concerned two questions: (1) how much lateral support would be needed and (2) how drivers accept this kind of support. The results show that all lateral support algorithms increased the lane-keeping performance with the algorithms providing a higher amount of assistance proving the most useful. All assistance systems were rated as helpful and were considered to increase driver safety, both by the drivers who did not have problems in lane-keeping without assistance.In light of these results an adaptation of a lateral support system to the IVIS-use seems to be useful and worthwhile.     

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

Ratings of severity and frequency of engagement with distracting driver behaviours are reported in this paper. Survey data were collected using an anonymous online questionnaire. Four hundred eighty-two respondents contributed to the survey during a 2 month data collection period. Results indicate that the three behaviours rated as most distracting when driving were (i) writing text messages (41%), (ii) reading text messages (62%), and (iii) using a cellular telephone hand-held (52%). The three most frequently reported distracting behaviours that resulted in accidents were (i) ‘interaction with child passengers’ 2.1% (near misses = 7.5%), (ii) both, route guidance destination entry with 2% (near misses = 2.8%) and use of an ‘… add-on media device, e.g., an iPod’ with 2% (near misses = 3.9%), and (iii) the three items ‘reading a text message’, ‘following advice from a route guidance system’, and ‘interaction with pets’, all with 1.7% of respondents reporting an accident when undertaking the activity (with 6.5%, 3%, and 2.2% respectively for near misses). Two hierarchical regression models were explored. The first introducing personal factors, i.e., age, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and intellect (R² = 0.131, p < 0.001). The second controlled for variables in the first model and introduced driver-related variables, mileage, penalty points, and frequency of accidents with assumed responsibility (R² = 0.253, p < 0.001). This model identified age, extraversion, mileage, penalty points and accidents all to be significant predictors of engagement with unnecessary distractions. The data presents a picture of widespread awareness of, and engagement with, distracting behaviours by drivers in the United Kingdom. Findings from the hierarchical regressions suggest scope may exist to mediate the levels of distracting behaviours by exploring individual differences and driving styles.     

Student driver propensity to engage with distractions – a self-report survey

This paper reports a survey of engagement with, and ratings of, driver distraction, for undergraduate student drivers. Survey data was collected using an anonymous online questionnaire. 530 respondents contributed to the survey during a seven-year data collection period.Results indicate that the three internal-to-vehicle behaviours rated as most distracting when driving were ‘writing text messages’, ‘internet use’, and ‘reading text messages’. The three most frequently undertaken distractions were, ‘(interactions with) adults’, ‘daydreaming’, and ‘eating, drinking or smoking’. Considering external-to-vehicle distractions, the top three rated were ‘environmental conditions’, ‘unexpected objects or events’, and ‘animals behaving unexpectedly’; while the most frequently experienced external distractions were ‘people (behaving normally), ‘busy roads’ and ‘official signage’. Some evidence was found that internal-to-vehicle distractions were relatively more distracting than external-to-vehicle ones, along with limited findings showing significant variation in the amount of engagement with distractions over time. Significant predictive models for engagement with distraction were calculated (for both work-related and non-work-related driving) and found to be broadly in agreement with previous research, although accounting for less variance in the models. Significantly greater engagement with distractions was found during non-work-related driving, when compared to work-related.The data present a picture of ongoing and substantial engagement with distracting behaviours for this population over the data collection period. For example, on a daily or weekly basis, more than three-fifths of respondents reported willingness to read text messages with the vehicle in motion; while just under half indicated that they typically write text messages in the same circumstances. However, the findings do offer some promise that interventions targeted towards non-work-related driving behaviours may be effective to reduce volitional engagement with distractions.     

Psychological predictors of texting while driving among university students

Although text messaging while driving is illegal in Spain previous research has shown that a substantial proportion of drivers, particularly young drivers, engage in this risky behaviour. The present study set out to investigate the psychological predictors of this behaviour using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). This study also measured the drivers’ perceptions regarding the effectiveness of the ban on mobile phone use while driving, their perceived crash risk, the risk of being fined and the drivers perceived ability to compensate for the distraction caused by reading or writing text messages while driving. Data were collected using an online questionnaire from 1082 university students who were drivers and owned a mobile phone. Attitude and perceived behavioural control significantly predicted the intention to send and read text messages while driving, even after controlling for exposure and demographic variables. Furthermore, intention was found to be a significant predictor of retrospective measures of both sending and reading text messages while driving, as was perceived behavioural control for several of the outcome measures. The present findings provide support for the TPB and also demonstrate the additional contributions that the mobile phone ban and perceived ability to compensate for the distraction had in predicting intentions. In addition, perceived crash risk was positively related to the prediction of intentions to send text messages and the number of messages read in the last week. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Conversing while driving: The importance of visual information for conversation modulation

Multiple studies have shown an increased accident risk due to telephoning while driving. On the other hand, driving with passengers leads to a decreased accident risk. One explanation is a conversation modulation by passengers in cars which leads to a different conversation pattern which is not so detrimental to driving as that when phoning. A driving simulator study was conducted in order to examine this conversation modulation more closely and to find out more about the factors involved in this modulation, especially about the role of visual information available to the passenger. In a within-subject design the conversational patterns of 33 drivers and passengers in different in-car settings (passenger as usual, passenger without front view or passenger without view of the driver) were compared to a hands-free cell phone and to a hands-free cell phone with additional visual information either about the driving situation or the driver. Participants were instructed to have a naturalistic small-talk with a friend. Results of the drivers’ speaking behavior showed a reduction of speaking while driving. Compared to a conversation partner on the cell phone, a passenger in the car varies his speaking rhythm by speaking more often but shorter. Further analyses showed that this effect is also found with a cell phone when providing the conversation partner additional visual information either about the driving situation or the driver. This latter finding supports the idea that conversation modulation is not triggered by being in the car but by the visual information about the driver’s state and the driving situation.     

Investigating the motivational factors influencing drivers intentions to unsafe driving behaviours: Speeding and overtaking violations

Achieving road safety depends on driver attitudes and behaviours in handling the vehicle on roads. The availability of good road, improvement of vehicle designs and drivers experience lead to reduction in crashes but not prevention of crashes. The study aims to predict the drivers’ intentions towards speeding and overtaking violations when under the influence of motivational factors using belief measure of TPB and DBQ variables. To achieve this, questionnaires were randomly administered to a sample of Ghanaian drivers (N = 354) who held valid driving licenses. This study applied regression techniques. The result shows that the components of TPB and DBQ variables were able to predict drivers’ intentions towards speeding and overtaking violations. The study further shows that components of TPB made larger contributions to the prediction of divers’ intentions to speeding and overtaking than the DBQ. Further analysis revealed that, in the prediction of drivers’ intentions, speeding attitude was the most frequent violations compared to overtaking. The drivers tend to involved in overtaking violations when they perceived the driving motivations would enhance the performance of the behaviour. Additionally, control belief has been the strongest predictor of drivers’ intentions under the influence of motivations to speeding and overtaking violations. It appeared that the drivers who intended to involve in speeding and overtaking violations had strong beliefs in the factors and are more likely to violate based on their beliefs. The practical implications of the findings for the development of interventions to promote road safety and positive changes are also discussed.     

Multiple facets of overconfidence: Implications for driving safety

This study sought to advance understanding of overconfidence in driving, and its relationship to safety-relevant individual difference factors. We compared the traditional, general above average affect (AAE) in driving ability with an assessment of AAE in relation to compensation for impairments, such as intoxication, fatigue and distraction. General driving and driving impairment AAEs were found to be distinct with unique relationships to illusory control, driver stress, and self-reported unsafe driver behaviors (errors, violations, lapses). Illusory control was associated with driving impairment AAE but not with general driving AAE. Both AAEs were negatively related to dislike of driving but related differently to other criteria. Risk factors related to self-estimation (violations, thrill-seeking) were distinct from factors related to competence relative to peers (aggression). Men scored more highly than women did on both AAEs. Trivia and driving calibration tasks were used to discriminate three aspects of a recent Bayesian belief updating model of overconfidence: overestimation, overplacement (AAE), and overprecision. Findings indicated that overplacement in the calibration tasks was related to AAE, its conceptual equivalent. There was a significant gender difference in overplacement but no gender difference in overprecision. The unique relationships between various types and facets of overconfidence, and driving-relevant individual differences, support the need for tailoring safety interventions to drivers of differing psychological characteristics.