Citation

Yannis G, Papantoniou PP, Petrellis N. Traffic Eng. Control 2013; 54(1): 7-11.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Hemming Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article analyzes the impact of mobile phone use on vehicle traffic speed and headways. Unlike most related studies that are based on either questionnaire responses or driving simulator experiments, a field survey was conducted in real traffic conditions. In particular, traffic data were recorded on a four-lane urban arterial highway segment using a video camera and a speed gun. Linear regression models were developed for the analysis of the effect of cell phone use and other variables on traffic speed and time/space headways. The article found that vehicle speed is increased by young drivers (aged 18-25 years), male and taxi drivers, and decreased for older drivers (>55 years) and for drivers using their mobile phones while driving. Vehicle time headways were not found to be affected by cell phone use. However, headspaces, estimated as the product of vehicle speed and time headways, were found to be decreased for drivers using their mobile phone, young and older drivers. Overall, drivers between 25 and 55 years old are associated with larger space headways regardless of the use of a mobile phone, which is possible due to a combination of adequate driving experience and skills. The article discusses how mobile phone use results in lower speeds, which suggests a driver's compensatory effect on the distraction caused by the mobile phone use. This distraction is also reflected in the reduced space headways that are associated with cell phone use for all drivers. The reduction is more pronounced when the speed and headway difference between successive vehicles was not significant in the first place, which is the case for vehicle platoons.


Keywords: Driver distraction;

Language: en