Analysis of the distraction impact on driving performance across driving styles: A driving simulator study in various speed conditions
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0336480
URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12677451/pdf/
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Summary
Driving-simulator study of hands-free conversation and texting distractions during car-following across six speed regimes (free flow, coherent moving flow, synchronized flow, jam density, recovery from jam, collision avoidance). Forty drivers were partitioned by k-means into aggressive, moderate, and conservative styles. Texting increased SDLP for moderate and conservative drivers in free-flow and (partly) coherent-flow conditions, while hands-free conversation reduced SDLP for conservative and moderate drivers in dense-traffic regimes; both distractions delayed Time to Initial Braking Location in collision-avoidance, with texting and HF conversation effects depending strongly on driving style and speed regime.
Key finding
Distraction effects on lateral control (SDLP) and braking timing (TIBL) depend on both traffic regime and driving style: texting hurts conservative/moderate drivers most in free flow, and both texting and HF conversation delay collision-avoidance braking.
Methodology
Within-subjects driving-simulator experiment with three distraction conditions (baseline, hands-free conversation, texting) crossed with six speed conditions (free flow, coherent moving flow, synchronized flow, jam density, recovery, collision avoidance). Driving styles were derived by k-means clustering on driving features. Performance was analyzed with t-tests, Friedman, and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank tests on SDLP, Acceleration Reaction Time (ART), and Time to Initial Braking Location (TIBL).
Sample size: N=40 drivers in driving simulator
Quality score: 5 / 5