Simulated Driving Performance is Worse with a Passenger than a Simulated Cellular Telephone Converser

Abstract

Evidence that cellular telephone conversations hinder driving performance is plentiful. However, why they should be more dangerous than passenger conversations has not been adequately explored. A passenger's ability to share situation awareness with the driver may reduce the negative effects of conversation but studies have not controlled for the effect of cellular telephone transmission. Unexpectedly, simulated driving performance was worst with a normal passenger and did not differ between blind passenger and no passenger conditions. The use of vacation as a naturalistic conversation topic and casual participant attitudes may have affected the results. Additional research is needed to further explore the differences between passenger and cellular telephone conversations to understand their effects on driving performance.

Department(s)

Psychological Science

Keywords and Phrases

Cellular Telephones; Crash Causes; Human Factors in Crashes; Traffic Crashes; Traffic Safety

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1527-7143

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2008 North American Journal of Psychology, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2008

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