Factors affecting drivers willingness to engage with a mobile phone while driving

This thesis investigates drivers willingness to engage with a mobile phone while driving. Many studies have looked into the effects on driving performance that can result from phone usage, but few studies have directly considered what can encourage or inhibit phone engagement behaviours in the first place. An initial exploratory study (Study 1) was conducted, for which a photo elicitation interview (N=20) was designed and implemented. This aimed to find the extent to which factors influencing phone use transferred from out of the car to the driving environment. In particular, the study aimed to explore whether the driving environment could be considered unique. The results indicated that the high demands placed on the driver by the road environment clearly distinguished it from the other environments and the reported propensity to use a phone seemed to reflect this. Only factors which either changed the level of attention required by the task, such as a change in task demand as a result of changes in the traffic environment, had any substantial influence on willingness to engage. Driving may not be unique in terms of the overall factors influencing phone use but it is unique in the extent to which this particular factor seems to have such a strong bearing on interaction. Building on findings from Study 1, that the demand and attention required seemed to influence willingness to engage, it was noted that Fuller s (2005) Task Capability Interface model would serve as a useful framework for the remainder of the thesis. This model suggests that driver behaviour is dictated by the level of task difficulty perceived; an interaction between task demand and capability. Therefore, the effects these two elements might have on willingness to engage with mobile phones while driving were tested separately in the two remaining studies. Previous research suggested that task demand should comprise a combination of roadway demand and the intended phoning task. Study 2, therefore, experimentally tested the extent to which road demand and phone function intended to be used influenced drivers decisions to engage with their phone. Participants (N=20) viewed video clips of real road environments of varying demand. Rating scales were used by participants to rate their willingness to engage with various phone functions according to the scenario they had just viewed. It was found both roadway demand and phone functionality affected willingness to engage with a mobile phone whilst driving. There was a higher propensity to engage in phone use in road environments perceived to have a lower demand and lower propensity to engage in phone use in the highest demand scenarios. Answering a call was the most likely function to be engaged with by the participants and sending a text message was the least likely. The final study investigated how capability (comprising both phone and driving capability) influenced willingness to engage. Participants (N=40) were required to drive in a simulator under two conditions, simulated low and high road demand. Their willingness to interact with their phones, when faced with a number of phone tasks, was then observed. It was found that driving capability had an effect on willingness to engage in high demand scenarios with the less capable, novice, drivers having a higher propensity to engage with placing a call, sending a text message and reading a text message than the more experienced drivers. Novice drivers were willing to engage with some functions on their phone at possibly inappropriate times. It was further found that, in the simulated low demand road environment, phone capability influenced willingness to engage, with those who were more capable at placing a call and sending a text message found to be more willing to engage with these functions. The research reported in this thesis represents the first attempt in the literature to study, in depth, the factors which can influence phone engagement behaviour while driving. Novel contributions include investigating if factors influencing phone use transferred from out of the car to the driving environment. Further novel contributions included whether the phone function and road demand interact to influence willingness to engage and whether capability can affect phone engagement behaviour while driving. Extending the model developed by Fuller, the thesis offers an original model that describes the factors affecting phone engagement behaviour while driving. Suggestions are proposed for how the findings presented in this thesis can effectively be used and how future work should build on these initial foundations

Drivers' willingness to engage with their mobile phone: the influence of phone function and road demand

Drivers normally elect whether or not to engage with a secondary task while driving. This study aimed to determine whether drivers’ willingness to engage with their mobile phone is affected by demands from the roadway environment and if these effects are more pronounced for some phone functions compared with others. Fifteen video clips were played to 20 participants representing different road scenarios, and therefore demands, such as driving on an empty auto route or turning right on a main arterial road. The participants then used three point Likert scales to rate their willingness to place or answer a call and send or read a text and a five point scale to rate the perceived riskiness of placing and answering a call only. Participants were also asked to think aloud when making their judgements so further insight could be gained. It was found that willingness to engage was affected by both the perceived roadway demands and the phone function under consideration. The perceived riskiness also affected willingness to engage when placing a call only. The think aloud element indicated the participants’ reasoning behind these findings as well as identifying possible future areas of research

A guide for policy makers: on reducing road fatalities

A guide for policy makers: on reducing road fatalitie

Integrating macro and micro hierarchical task analyses to embed new medical devices in complex systems

The introduction of new medical devices (technologies) into complex systems usually includes usability evaluation (formative and summative) using Human Factors (Engineering) methods. This paper outlines the use of Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) to not only look at usability but also consider implementation in a complex system. Firstly, the macro system is mapped as a process model for a complex field exercise (simulation) for prehospital care following a chemical incident; and secondly the individual human-medical device interface is analyzed. This allows the two outputs to be integrated by combining the macro systems modelling and micro product interactions. It provides an example of using HTA to support implementation of new devices and technologies in complex healthcare systems

Current and future trends in VRU accidents in Europe - why we need ITS solutions

Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) is a collective term used to describe cyclists, motorcyclists, moped riders and pedestrians. This paper describes work undertaken within the EC’s VRUITS project which focuses on reducing VRU accidents through the use of ITS solutions. The paper determines the current accident numbers within Europe for VRUs between the years 2002 and 2012 using the CARE database. Accident forecasting is then applied to predict future accident numbers if current trends continue and no successful countermeasures including ITS solutions are introduced into the Road Transport System. This shows the number of VRU fatalities in 2030 to be almost comparable to those of car accidents since car fatality rates are reducing at a far increased proportion compared to VRUs. The results of the study emphasise why the introduction of effective ITS solutions are necessary to improve the overall safety of VRUs

Critical accident scenarios for cyclists and how they can be addressed through ITS solutions

It is recognised that ITS applications have been relatively successful in improving road safety primarily through technology applications the vehicle and infrastructure. However, Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) have not received as much benefit as other road users. The EC-funded VRUITS project places the VRU road user at the centre, assesses the impact of current and upcoming ITS applications on the safety and mobility of VRUs, identifies how the usability and efficiency of ITS applications can be improved and recommends which actions have to be taken at a policy level to improve ITS safety and mobility. A major focus of the VRUITS project involves the safety of cyclists within the EU as a target VRU group. To provide the evidence-base for ITS applications, data were analysed to determine critical scenarios for cyclists and these data included national data in Spain, Austria, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This analysis was matched to analysis of the European CARE data to determine the consistency between the national and European databases. The main findings from the data analysis are as follows; • The majority of cycling accidents in the accident analysis were found to occur at junctions/intersections. • One of the most common scenarios involved vehicles pulling out into the path of the oncoming cyclist at an intersection • CARE data suggests that the most common scenario involves both cyclist and vehicle heading in the same direction but the vehicle then turns into the cyclist’s path • Overall, males are over-represented in the data. • The majority of the accidents occur in fine dry weather during daylight hours • The majority occur in urban areas at relatively on roads with relatively low speed limits Data from this phase of the VRUITS project will be used to determine the ITS solutions that are relevant to the scenarios determined through accident analysis. Subsequent phases of the project will look at the feasibility of implementation of theses countermeasures which is likely to include some pilot testing of specific applications

Are intelligent transport systems effective in improving the safety of vulnerable road users?

This paper presents the results of safety impact assessment, providing quantitative estimates of the safety impacts of ten ITS which were designed to improve safety, mobility and comfort of VRUs. The evaluation method originally developed to assess safety impacts of ITS for cars was now adapted for assessing safety impacts of ITS for VRUs. The main results of the assessment showed that nine services included in the quantitative safety impact assessment affected traffic safety in a positive way by preventing fatalities and injuries. At full penetration the highest effects were obtained for the systems PCDS+EBR, VBS and INS. The estimates for PCDS+EBR showed the maximum reduction of 7.5% on all road fatalities and 5.8% on all road injuries, which came down to an estimate of over 2,100 fatalities and over 62,900 injuries saved per year in the EU-28 when exploiting the 2012 accident levels adjusted with the estimated accident trends

Hierarchical task analysis as a systems mapping tool in complex healthcare environments: emergency department response to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear events

The Emergency Department (ED) is at the forefront of the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) response. This study adopted a multi-level systems approach using the Human Factors/Ergonomics (HFE) method of Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) with document analyses of CBRN plans to represent Work-as-Imagined. Work-as-Imagined was compared with data from semi-structured interviews using prompt cards for CBRN scenarios (n=57) representing Work-as-Done. The aim was to provide methodological evidence for the use of HTA with an empirical synthesis of the ED in response to CBRN events.  HTA was the preferred systems mapping tool because it aligns with a systems thinking approach, allows multiple level comparisons, highlights variability, and has an established usability track record. This study demonstrates the usability of HTA in the context of the ED responding to a CBRN event. The findings for core CBRN concepts included (1) Liaise and communicate, (2) Isolate and contain, and (3) Personal Protective Equipment. </p

E-scooter safety studies and a user trial study

E-scooters (electric scooters) are becoming more popular around the world, as people seek alternatives to travelling by car to reduce carbon emissions, have better mobility around congested cities and save money. Several e-scooter rental trials are currently running in some areas in the UK. Despite the benefits the use of e-scooters brings, there were 3 fatalities and 931 casualties in accidents involving e-scooters in the UK in 2021. Hence the safety issues becomes increasingly significant. The small footprint of the e-scooter can make the rider feel uncomfortable when sharing the roadway with cars, however, in a similar way to e-scooter riders feeling disproportionately vulnerable on roads compared to cars. Safety issues include e-scooter riders’ erratic and unpredictable behaviour when switching from one travel mode to another. Extensive literature review of this study also reveals that the environmental impact of escooters is still subject to debate with most e-scooter trips replacing walking rather than polluting vehicles. A trial where 22 participants evaluated their e-scooter interaction has favourable results with participants rating the e-scooter highly for safety in general, with some contrasting feedback suggesting potential concerns from users.</p

Improving the safety and mobility of vulnerable road users through ITS applications [VRUITS] D4.1 Usability assessment of selected applications

n recent years ITS applications have assisted in reducing the number of road traffic accident fatalities in Europe. However, Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) have not benefited to the same extent as vehicle users. The EU-sponsored VRUITS project assesses the safety and mobility impacts of ITS applica-tions for VRUs. This process involves assessing the impacts of current and upcoming ITS applications on the safety and mobility of VRUs, identifying how the usability and efficiency of ITS applications can be improved and recommending which actions have to be taken at a policy level to accelerate de-ployment of such ITS. This deliverable reports the work performed during the second period of activity focusing on a number of selected existing ITS which are already present on the market. In particular, user-acceptance and usability of existing ITS services for VRUs, have been assessed, focusing on comfort/mobility and ef-fectiveness of related information (the HMI) for special user groups, such as elderly subjects. In Chapter 1 the Project and the objectives of the deliverable are described. The concept of the Vul-nerable Road Users and ITS interfaces are then presented. In chapter 2 the method for evaluation and screening of existing ITS systems is described. The usabil-ity assessment has been performed by experts, which were provided a detailed description of several ITS systems for VRUs. Starting from the inventory of ITS systems in D2.1, the most suitable systems for usability assessment were selected. The selection of the ITS systems to be assessed has been conducted following the feedback received from the activity carried out in WP 2. A questionnaire has been developed for the evaluation of interfaces, based on the literature work already carried out in the past. The selected ITS systems have been studied in detail in order to develop sufficient material to distrib-ute to interviewees together with the questionnaire. This aimed to support the interface usability pro-cess even in situations where the actual systems were not available. The 4 selected systems are mainly dedicated to pedestrians, drivers of PTWs, cyclists and drivers, and are: Intelligent pedestrian traffic signal Cyclist digital rear-view mirror PTW oncoming vehicle information assistance system Blind spot detection system his process led to the development of a substantial amount of material and information (mainly in the form of links to video and on-line demonstrations of ITS) that were made available to interviewees to support their evaluation process. The complete set of material, i.e., the questionnaire and supporting material, for 4 different ITS have been distributed to a number of interviewees. In Chapter 3 the VRUITS questionnaire used for usability is presented and explained together with the data collection findings. Chapter 4 discusses the actual survey results about ITS usability. A total of 152 individual replies were collected, and each of the system was assessed by 35-42 persons. This data has been collected and analysed, utilising standard statistical tools, mainly SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) for data mining and data analysis. Finally Chapter 5 and 6 a discussion about the results as well as the research conclusions are report-ed. The overall findings of the investigation revealed that it was possible to discriminate and identify areas of improvement for usability issues on all the four ITS systems under investigation. In general, the results revealed common usability patterns across the four ITS systems. In particular, the Perception of risk avoidance (given by the ITS system) and Communication of Risk (risk warning by the ITS) were rated the best usability properties of the various ITS systems. Providing feed-forward information about incoming hazardous situations and subsequent appropriate perception of risk avoid-ance are the best properties among all the four ITS systems. Also, the highest rated usability features across all ITS systems were the clarity of the system functions (Explicitness), the way the systems work and operate (Functionality) and the degree of control by the user (User Control). Some major areas of improvement were revealed also. Firstly, the lowest rated usability features across all four ITS systems were System Monitoring, Flexibility and Consistency. This latter finding could suggests the evidence that all four ITS systems might need more focus on adaptability to road context, consistency of functions in difficult weather conditions and finally a more active monitoring of human behaviour in response to the ITS (where this is applicable). Secondly, Trust in the ITS system, and the perception of Safety Improvement revealed to be weak ITS properties overall. Some work on trust in safety and ITS automation and safety improvement perception (in using such systems) could be brought forward as the aim of the ITS system for VRUs is exactly to increase Safety. In fact, a user attitude of trust in the systems and belief that such systems could improve their safety is a substantial desirable scenario to strive for. Notably, younger people (62). Nevertheless the rating is on the same direction for both sub-samples of respondents. Finally, the replies from experts in the sample did not differ from the overall group for the general usability and the for usability scales except for minor differences