ANALYZING THE CORRELATIONS AMONG DRIVER DISTRACTIONS AND THE PROBABILITY OF AN ACCIDENT

The use of the car is an integral part of the everyday life of many people. As most people spend more time in the car, the number of accidents has also risen in recent years. Globally, traffic accidents are the most common cause of death. Although vehicles are becoming safer and safer, many accidents are caused by driver carelessness or distraction. However, supposed secondary activities in everyday driving behavior can have fatal consequences. Driving while using the phone is one of the few secondary occupations that is prosecuted in Germany and the USA. This master’s thesis examines risk factors that distract the driver while driving. The participants are questioned in a survey to make general statements about driving behavior. In a driving simulation experiment, the effects of the distracting behavior while driving are investigated. In detail, the influence of the main factors Hand-on-Wheel, Background-Noise, Weather and the interaction of these main factors on driving performance will be investigated. Ultimately, the experiment proved that even seemingly insignificant secondary occupations influence the driver\u27s driving performance. Even if some main factors did not affect driving performance alone, all the factors analyzed in combination with another main factor compromise driving performance