Crash Studies of Driver Distraction

This chapter, using the definition of distraction provided in chapters 1 and 3 of this book, discusses results of several crash studies that attempted to provide detailed categories of different types of distractions and quantify the proportion of crashes that involve driver distraction as a contributory factor. The majority of the studies examined use traditional approaches to capture information, such as use of police crash reports or outputs of crash investigation teams. The limitations of traditional information capture methods are discussed and contrasted with findings of a study that uses an observational method involving instrumented vehicles to collect crash and incident information. The chapter gives an estimate of the role of distraction as a contributing factor in crashes, and the relative contribution to crashes of distractions deriving from inside and outside the vehicle. The chapter concludes with a discussion of issues relating the role of technology as a potential source of distraction, the classification of distraction, and improved crash reporting.