A Comparative Study of Accident Risk Related to Speech-Based and Handheld Texting during a Sudden Braking Event in Urban Road Environments

Rui Fu, Yunxing Chen, Qingjin Xu, Yuxi Guo and Wei Yuan
Additional contact information
Rui Fu: School of Automobile, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China
Yunxing Chen: School of Automobile, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China
Qingjin Xu: School of Automobile, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China
Yuxi Guo: School of Automobile, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China
Wei Yuan: School of Automobile, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 16, 1-18

Abstract: The use of mobile phones while driving is a very common phenomenon that has become one of the main causes of traffic accidents. Many studies on the effects of mobile phone use on accident risk have focused on conversation and texting; however, few studies have directly compared the impacts of speech-based texting and handheld texting on accident risk, especially during sudden braking events. This study aims to statistically model and quantify the effects of potential factors on accident risk associated with a sudden braking event in terms of the driving behavior characteristics of young drivers, the behavior of the lead vehicle (LV), and mobile phone distraction tasks (i.e., both speech-based and handheld texting). For this purpose, a total of fifty-five licensed young drivers completed a driving simulator experiment in a Chinese urban road environment under five driving conditions: baseline (no phone use), simple speech-based texting, complex speech-based texting, simple handheld texting, and complex handheld texting. Generalized linear mixed models were developed for the brake reaction time and rear-end accident probability during the sudden braking events. The results showed that handheld texting tasks led to a delayed response to the sudden braking events as compared to the baseline. However, speech-based texting tasks did not slow down the response. Moreover, drivers responded faster when the initial time headway was shorter, when the initial speed was higher, or when the LV deceleration rate was greater. The rear-end accident probability respectively increased by 2.41 and 2.77 times in the presence of simple and complex handheld texting while driving. Surprisingly, the effects of speech-based texting tasks were not significant, but the accident risk increased if drivers drove the vehicle with a shorter initial time headway or a higher LV deceleration rate. In summary, these findings suggest that the effects of mobile phone distraction tasks, driving behavior characteristics, and the behavior of the LV should be taken into consideration when developing algorithms for forward collision warning systems.

Keywords: speech-based texting; handheld texting; brake reaction time; rear-end accident probability; driving behavior characteristics; lead vehicle deceleration rate (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/16/5675/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/16/5675/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:16:p:5675-:d:395170

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().