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| Various reasons of distraction that causes fatal accidents |
Driver inattention has long been regarded as a frequent contributing factor to crashes. Different
studies have suggested that driver inattention, including secondary task engagement and
drowsiness, contributes to 25 percent (Wang, Knipling, and Goodman, 1996) to 78 percent
(Klauer, Dingus, Neale, Sudweeks, & Ramsey, 2006) of all crashes. These large percentages
become even more worrisome given the proliferation of portable wireless devices that are being
brought into vehicles with increasing frequency. Examples include cell phones, iPods,
BlackBerries, navigation devices, and portable DVD players. Two analyses that would greatly
improve our understanding of the driver distraction problem are: 1) a calculation of the relative
crash risks associated with types of driver distraction, and 2) a characterization of the
relationship between the frequency, duration, and the subsequent total time eyes-off-road
(TEOR) of these types of distractions, in a real-world driving environment.
