The effects of texting and driving on hazard perception and the adoption of driver response strategies

Abstract

Hazard perception has received little attention compared to measures of vehicle control in studies exploring the effects of texting on driving performance, despite being a more direct measure of crash risk. Twenty participants drove in a simulator while text-messaging in order to assess its affect on hazard detection. Analysis revealed a greater response likelihood (i.e., responding to a greater number of potential hazards) in a relatively easy text-messaging task compared to a more difficult one, t(19) = -3.24, p < .01. These findings suggest that the impact of text-messaging on the detection of driving hazards depends in part, on the nature of the text-message, particularly in the adoption of strategies to compensate for interference on the driving task.