Driving and Multitasking: The Good, the Bad, and the Dangerous

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Cognitive Psychology
• Transportation Safety

Background:

• Multitasking's impact on driving performance is variable.
• Understanding how driving conditions and task complexity interact is crucial for driver safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the combined effects of driving environment and secondary task cognitive load on driver control.
• To identify specific secondary tasks and driving conditions that pose the greatest risk.

Main Methods:

• A driving simulator study was conducted with participants performing driving tasks under varying traffic conditions (no traffic vs. heavy traffic).
• Four secondary task conditions were integrated: tablet use, radio listening, radio quiz, and single-task driving.
• Driving performance metrics were analyzed across all conditions.

Main Results:

• Tablet use led to the worst driving performance across both traffic scenarios.
• Passive radio listening and radio quiz participation resulted in the best driving performance.
• Single-task driving performance was not superior to driving with radio tasks and tended to be slightly worse.

Conclusions:

• Drivers may engage in internal "mind wandering" during monotonous driving, which can interfere with driving more than non-visual secondary tasks.
• Minimizing visual-distracting secondary tasks, like tablet use, is critical for driving safety.
• The nature of the secondary task and the driving environment significantly modulate driving performance.