The impact of the road environment and mobile phone distraction on driving behaviour

The thesis investigated the impact on driver behaviour of task complexity: driving demands (the constantly changing road and traffic environment) and secondary task demands (mobile phone use). Driver performance in a simulator was measured under presence and absence of pedestrians and oncoming traffic, different types of mobile phone distraction (cognitive and visual-manual) and when driving through different road geometries. The effect of road geometry on driver behaviour was greater than the effect of mobile phone distraction. Regulations and legislation on mobile phones should focus on visual-manual phone tasks, while enforcement and warning signs should target downhill and uphill curve sections