Driver Distractions and Road Traffic Crashes in Port Harcourt City

Driver Distractions and Road Traffic Crashes in Port Harcourt City

CHAPTER ONE

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The aim of this study is to investigate driver distractions and road traffic crashes in port Harcourt city. The specific objectives are;

To ascertain the relationship between driver’s distraction and wireless communication in port Harcourt city
To investigate the relationship between driver’s distraction and entertainment devices in port Harcourt city
To ascertain the relationship between driver’s distraction and high speed in port Harcourt city
To investigate the relationship between driver’s distraction and daily target in port Harcourt city

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

DRIVER DISTRACTION

The task of driving requires continuous attention to road and traffic circumstances and vehicle control. Drivers may pay insufficient attention to driving because: they are occupied with other activities such as making a phone call, tuning the radio, listening to the radio, talking with a passenger, or eating while driving. In addition, driver attention can be drawn by noticeable things or events inside or outside the car, like a crash on the other lane, a striking person on the pavement, a conspicuous billboard alongside the road, or a wasp in the car. Finally, drivers may become tired or think about other things than driving (e.g. daydream) without being fatigued, which may distract the driver away from activities critical for safe driving. Based on a conceptual analysis of common elements in various definitions of distraction, Lee et al. (2008) provide the following general definition: ‘Driver distraction is a diversion of attention away from activities critical for safe driving toward a competing activity’ (Lee et al., 2008, p. 34). Related concepts to driver distraction are inattention, and concentration loss. When the competing task for driving is thinking about other things or daydreaming without being fatigued, then this is called concentration loss. Thus, concentration loss can be seen as a type of driver distraction where the source of distraction is internal. Regan et al. (2011) have defined driver inattention as “insufficient or no attention to activities critical for safe driving” and assert that driver distraction is one of several mechanisms by which inattention occurs. Regan et al. (2011) differentiate taxonomically between the following mechanisms of inattention:

Driver restricted inattention – “insufficient or no attention to activities critical for safe driving brought about something that physically prevents (due to biological factors) the driver from detecting (and hence from attending to) information critical for safe driving”.
Driver misprioritised inattention – “insufficient or no attention to activities critical for safe driving brought about by the driver focusing attention on one aspect of driving to the exclusion of another, which is more critical for safe driving”.
Driver neglected inattention – “insufficient or no attention to activities critical for safe driving brought about the driver neglecting to attend to activities critical for safe driving”.
Driver cursory inattention – “insufficient or no attention to activities critical for safe driving brought about by the driver giving cursory or hurried attention to activities critical for safe driving”.
Driver-diverted inattention – The diversion of attention away from activities critical for safe driving toward a competing activity, which may result in insufficient or no attention to activities critical for safe driving”. The competing activity can be driving or non-driving related. Within this taxonomy, driver distraction can be considered as one specific mechanism of inattention, and concentration loss can be considered as a special type of driver distraction triggered by an internal source.

Sources of driver distraction

There are various sources of distraction. The sources can reside inside or outside the vehicle, be technology-related or otherwise, traffic-related or not, and be self-initiated or imposed by the situation/circumstances. While the sources of distraction may take many forms, it is helpful to examine distraction in terms of four distinct categories: (1) visual distraction (e.g., looking away from the roadway); (2) auditory distraction (e.g., listening to a ringing cell phone); (3) manual distraction/interference (e.g., manually adjusting the radio volume), and (4) cognitive distraction (e.g., being lost in thought). Many distracting activities that drivers engage in can involve more than one of these components (e.g., visually searching for a control to manipulate). For example, the use of media devices while participating in traffic can distract the road user in each of the described four ways (Meesmann et al., 2009; Lee, 2007):

Manual distraction/interference because the use of the device interferes with physical control of the vehicle.
Visual distraction when the user watches the device instead of the traffic situation.
Cognitive distraction because the music, the conversation, or other information that directs attention away from the driving task.

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