Using mobile telephones: cognitive workload and attention resource allocation

Driver distraction is recognized as being one of the central causes of road traffic incidents and mobile telephones are tangible devices (among many other electronic devices) that can distract the driver through changes in workload. Forty participants completed a motorway route characterized by a low level of road complexity in the form of vehicle handling and information processing. A peripheral detection task (PDT) was employed to gauge mental workload. We compared effects of conversation type (simple versus complex) and telephone mode (hands-free versus handheld) to baseline conditions. The participants' reaction times increased significantly when conversing but no benefit of hands-free units over handheld units on rural roads/motorways were found. Thus, in regard to mobile telephones, the content of the conversation was far more important for driving and driver distraction than the type of telephone when driving on a motorway or similar type of road. The more difficult and complex the conversation, the greater the possible negative effect on driver distraction.