Mind wandering and driving: a responsibility case-control study

Objective To assess the association between mind wandering (i.e. thinking unrelated to the task at hand) and the risk of being responsible for the crash. Design Responsibility case-control study. Setting Adult emergency department of the Bordeaux University hospital (France) from April 2010 to August 2011. Participants 955 injured drivers presenting as a result of motor vehicle crash. Main outcome measures The main outcome variable was responsibility for the crash. Exposures were mind wandering, external distraction, negative affect, alcohol use, psychotropic medicine use, and sleep deprivation. Potential confounders were sociodemographic and crash characteristics. Results Beyond classical risk factors found to be associated with responsibility, the results showed that intense mind wandering was associated with being responsible for a crash (17% [responsible] vs. 9% [not responsible]; adjusted OR [95% CI]=2.12 [1.37-3.28]). Conclusions Mind wandering while driving, by decoupling attention from visual and auditory perceptions, may jeopardize the ability of the driver to incorporate information from the environment, thereby threatening safety on the roads. Our findings provide support for the latest research designed to develop systems to detect periods of driving vulnerability related to inattention. In addition, further research is recommended to assess how these results could lead to innovative interventions such as attentional training for drivers at risk of inattention

Distraction and driving: results from a case-control responsibility study of traffic crash injured drivers interviewed at the emergency room

Background : Use of cellular phones have been shown to be associated with crashes but many external distractions remain to be studied. Objective : To assess the risk associated with diversion of attention due to unexpected events or secondary tasks at the wheel. Design : Responsibility case-control study. Setting : Adult emergency department of the Bordeaux University Hospital (France) from April 2010 to August 2011. Participants : 955 injured drivers presenting as a result of motor vehicle crash. Main outcome measures : The main outcome variable was responsibility for the crash. Exposures were external distraction, alcohol use, psychotropic medicine use, and sleep deprivation. Potential confounders were sociodemographic and crash characteristics. Results : Beyond classical risk factor found to be associated with responsibility, results showed that distracting events inside the vehicle (picking up an object), distraction due to driver activity (smoking) and distracting events occurring outside were associated with an increased probability of being at fault. These distraction-related factors accounted for 8% of injurious road crashes. Limitations : Retrospective responsibility self-assessment Conclusions : Diverted attention may carry more risk than expected. Our results are supporting recent research efforts to detect periods of driving vulnerability related to inattention