New Study in NSC Journal of Safety Research Suggests Drivers More Distracted than...

New Study in NSC Journal of Safety Research Suggests Drivers More Distracted
than They Realize

ITASCA, Ill., April 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new study reported in the
National Safety Council's Journal of Safety Research suggests drivers tend to
overestimate their driving skills and underestimate their distraction caused
by other activities while they drive. The study suggests that drivers may
engage in other distracting activities while they drive because they don't
accurately perceive the danger of doing so.

Led by William J. Horrey of the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety
(Hopkinton, Ma.), the study involved 41 drivers willing to test the effects of
engaging in other distracting activities while they drive. Participants first
demonstrated their driving ability in three key areas: lane keeping, speed
control, and quick response to a changing traffic light. Next, they
demonstrated these abilities while also performing a relatively easy
distracting activity (recalling, adding, and repeating simple numbers
presented while driving) and a relatively difficult one (developing and asking
yes-or-no questions to identify an object while driving). Researchers expected
that the more difficult activity would require more thought and thereby
distract drivers more significantly from safe driving.

Indeed, results showed that the more difficult activity reduced driving safety
more than the easier one. Yet they also showed that drivers did not recognize
one activity as more difficult than the other and estimated no difference
between the activities' affect on their driving abilities. According to Horrey
and his researchers, these results, combined with previous studies, suggest
that drivers are not aware of their own performance loss due to distraction.

"Today it is important to understand how new in-vehicle tasks affect drivers'
performance as well as how they affect drivers' perceptions of their own
performance," the study concludes, noting that commercial drivers frequently
have to deal with other distracting activities as part of their jobs, and the
high cost of crashes to employers. The study also outlines the steep costs to
employers of off-the-job crashes due to distracted driving, compounded by a
national increase in the length of daily commuting times.

National Safety Council President & CEO Janet Froetscher identified cell phone
use while driving as one of America's most urgent traffic safety issues. In
January the NSC became the first national organization to call for a total ban
on that activity, based on scientific estimates that cell phone use while
driving contributes to 6 percent of crashes, or 636,000 crashes, 330,000
injuries, 12,000 serious injuries, and 2,600 deaths each year. The same
research put the annual financial toll of cell phone-related crashes at $43
billion.

"Our nation has reached a point where we estimate more than 100 million people
are engaging in this dangerous behavior daily," Froetscher said, adding that
the issue is not the type of phone a driver uses, rather it is the distraction
caused by the conversation. "Hands-free devices do not make cell phones any
safer. Several studies indicate that the principle risk is the cognitive
distraction. Studies also show that driving while talking on a cell phone is
extremely dangerous and puts drivers at a four-times greater crash risk."

To work toward improving driving safety, the JSR study calls for more research
on drivers distracted by activities of different degrees of difficulty, in
both laboratory and naturalistic settings.

To access the study, visit Elsevier's Science Direct at www.sciencedirect.com
and enter the title Journal of Safety Research, Volume 40, Issue 1.

The Journal of Safety Research is the pre-eminent, peer-reviewed scientific
journal in the safety field. Its scholarly articles present basic and applied
research in all areas of safety, including traffic, industry, farm, home,
school and public.

The National Safety Council (www.nsc.org) saves lives by preventing injuries
and deaths at work, in homes, communities and on the roads, through
leadership, research, education and advocacy.

Owned and operated by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company
(www.libertymutualgroup.com), Boston, MA, the Liberty Mutual Research
Institute for Safety has helped to improve the occupational safety and health
of workers for more than 50 years.

SOURCE National Safety Council

Meredith Morris, Communications Manager of National Safety Council,
+1-630-775-2307