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Distraction while driving

Distraction is considered one of the most frequent causes of road accidents. A study initiated by the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) was done to provide information on how often and which secondary tasks are performed while driving in Germany. To this end, drivers of passenger cars were asked about the last 30 minutes of their just finished trips as they entered parking lots or rest areas. In addition, a Naturalistic Driving Study was carried out to determine how reliable the information provided by drivers about their secondary activities in these surveys is.

Drivers stated that they had carried out an average of 2 secondary activities within the last 30 minutes of their trip. Interactions with passengers accounted for around 70 percent of the total driving time. From the results it can be concluded that this type of assessment is suitable to record the frequency of consciously performed secondary activities such as the use of mobile phones. It is less suitable for recording activities that are performed more unconsciously.

Additional Information

Research compact 13/2020

Report

Frequency of distraction while driving
Reports of the Federal Highway Research Institute, book M 297, 2020

  • Contact

    Federal Highway Research Institute
    Brüderstraße 53
    D-51427 Bergisch Gladbach
    Info-Service
    Telephone: 0049 2204 43-9101
    Fax: 0049 2204 43-2550
    info@bast.de

  • Reports

    BASt's reports are almost entirely in German. Each report includes an english abstract. You can find the complete report by following the link to ELBA on the report's page.