Technische Universität Chemnitz, 09107 Chemnitz, Germany.
Technische Universität Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany.
J Safety Res. 2020 Jun;73:235-243. doi: 10.1016/j.jsr.2020.03.007. Epub 2020 Mar 27.
Some evidence exists that drivers choose to engage in secondary tasks when the driving demand is low (e.g., when the car is stopped). While such a behavior might generally be considered as rather safe, it could be argued that the associated diversion of attention away from the road still leads to a reduction of situational awareness, which might increase collision risk once the car regains motion. This is especially relevant for texting, which is associated with considerable eyes-off-the-road-time. Nonetheless, it seems that previous research has barely addressed the actual engagement in secondary tasks while waiting at a red light (as compared to just addressing the tasks' mere prevalence).
The present study investigated secondary task engagement while stopped at a red light using European naturalistic driving data collected through the UDRIVE project. Attention was given to the whole engagement process, including simple prevalence and the tasks' relation (in terms of start/end) to the red light period. Moreover, given that texting is one of the most problematic forms of distraction, it was characterized in more detail regarding glance behavior.
Videos of 804 red light episodes from 159 drivers were annotated. Glance behavior was also coded for a sub-set of 75 texting events and their matched baselines. Results, conclusions and practical applications: Drivers engaged in at least one secondary task across almost half of the annotated red light episodes. Drivers who texted while stopped spent most of the time looking at their cell phone. Consequently, drivers might not have been prepared for potentially unexpected events once the light turned green. Further, drivers concluded texting a considerable number of times well after the red light period, which has potential implications for traffic safety.
有证据表明，当驾驶需求较低（例如，汽车停止时）时，驾驶员会选择从事次要任务。虽然这种行为通常被认为是相当安全的，但可以说，注意力从道路上转移仍然会导致情境意识降低，一旦汽车恢复运动，碰撞风险可能会增加。这对于发短信尤其相关，因为发短信会导致相当长的视线离开道路的时间。尽管如此，似乎以前的研究几乎没有涉及在红灯等待时实际从事次要任务（与仅仅解决任务的普遍存在相比）。
本研究使用 UDRIVE 项目收集的欧洲自然驾驶数据，调查了红灯停车时从事次要任务的情况。关注的是整个参与过程，包括简单的流行率以及任务与红灯期的关系（就开始/结束而言）。此外，由于发短信是最具问题的分心形式之一，因此对其注视行为进行了更详细的描述。
对 159 名驾驶员的 804 个红灯事件视频进行了注释。还对 75 个短信事件及其匹配的基线的注视行为进行了编码。结果、结论和实际应用：驾驶员在几乎一半的注释红灯事件中从事了至少一项次要任务。在红灯停车时发短信的驾驶员大部分时间都在看手机。因此，一旦绿灯亮起，驾驶员可能没有为潜在的意外事件做好准备。此外，驾驶员在红灯期结束后相当多次数地结束了发短信，这对交通安全有潜在影响。
