The feasibility of detecting phone-use related driver distraction

Apart from the driving behavioural change that can be the direct consequence of operating a car phone, phone-use related behaviour may also be a threat to traffic safety. Making notes or looking up telephone numbers while driving are example of such behaviour. In a driving simulator experiment 20 drivers drove in two conditions: under normal driving conditions and while being distracted because of telephone engagement. In the 'distracted' condition they had to handle a mobile phone while their attention was drawn off the road for up to several seconds by a telephone number search task. Results showed both a deterioration in driver performance on different vehicle parameters including behavioural (speed) compensation as a result of the demanding telephone task. In an effort to develop an on-board detection system for this type of driver inattention, the data were used to serve as input for a real time diagnosis system based on Statistics, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Fuzzy Logic (FL). System performance in recognizing normal and deteriorated driving behaviour was 89%. On-line detection of driver distraction is considered feasible in the near future.