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May 05, 2006
‘DRIVER DISTRACTION’ SAID TO LEAD CRASH CAUSES
Driver inattention is the leading factor in most crashes and near-crashes, according to a research report by NHTSA and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI).. “Nearly 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds before the event. Primary causes of driver inattention are distracting activities, such as cell phone use, and drowsiness,” according to the report.
The 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study tracked the behavior of the drivers of 100 vehicles equipped with video and sensor devices for more than one year. During that time, the vehicles were driven nearly 2,000,000 miles, yielding 42,300 hours of data. The 241 drivers of the vehicles were involved in 82 crashes, 761 near crashes, and 8,295 critical incidents.
In a follow-on analysis, the researchers concluded that drowsiness is “a significant problem that increases a driver’s risk of a crash or near-crash by at least a factor of four” and “ay be significantly under-reported in police crash investigations. They also concluded that the “most common distraction for drivers is the use of cell phones.”
The background and results of both studies are available on NHTSA’s website under Research and Development.
Posted by MVHAP at May 5, 2006 07:09 PM