<rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="https://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
  <channel>
    <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
    <link>https://trid.trb.org/</link>
    <atom:link href="https://trid.trb.org/Record/RSS?s=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" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
    <description></description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
    <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
    <image>
      <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
      <url>https://trid.trb.org/Images/PageHeader-wTitle.jpg</url>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/</link>
    </image>
    <item>
      <title>Driver situation awareness – Investigating the effect of passenger experience</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1595385</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Passengers have the opportunity to influence the driver’s situation awareness and promote safer performance. This paper reports an investigation into the influence of passengers on driver situation awareness. 40 two-person teams performed an interactive verbal task, while one team member also undertook a simulated driving task. Half of the drivers were paired with driving-experienced passengers; the others took part with driving-novice passengers. Dependent variables were Verbal Response Time (conversation modulation) and Situation Awareness. Results indicated that driving-novice passengers engaged in relatively more conversation than the driving-experienced passengers. Significant differences were found for total Situational Awareness between driving-experienced and driving-novice groups. Further analysis suggested that both experienced drivers and passengers had significantly better Situational Awareness of perceptual factors than driving-novices. Further, Verbal Response Times were found to be significantly predictive of Situational Awareness. Findings provide some support for the notion that passengers may have a positive effect on driver’s attention in spite of their verbal interactions.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 08 Apr 2019 16:57:06 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1595385</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Towards Comfortable Communication in Future Vehicles</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1595490</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This research aims to study the effect of seat and/or backrest rotation on comfort and quality of conversation. Different sitting arrangements were tested to study the effect of the seat layout on: 1) (dis)comfort experience; 2) conversation quality and 3) postures. Two seats were arranged in different angles (0°, 45°, 90°, and 180°) at the same distance (1 m) and participants were asked to talk to each other. The participants' postures were acquired by using cameras and markers on the participants' body. Questionnaires were used to rate the perceived (dis)comfort and quality of conversation. Results show that 90° configuration scored the best both in overall comfort and quality of conversation; while the 0° configuration scored the lowest in both ratings. A strong correlation was established between high comfort and good quality of conversation.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 29 Mar 2019 10:20:10 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1595490</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Effects of hands-free cellular phone conversational cognitive tasks on driving stability based on driving simulation experiment</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1519819</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Driver distraction due to cellular phone usage is a major contributing factor to road crashes. This study compares the effects of conversational cognitive tasks using hands-free cellular phone on driving performance under three distraction conditions: (1) no distraction (no cellular conversation), (2) normal conversation (non-emotional cellular conversation), and (3) seven-level mathematical calculations. A car-following scenario was implemented using a driving simulator. Thirty young drivers with an average age of 24.1 years maintained a constant speed and distance between the subject vehicle and a leading vehicle on the driving simulator, and then respond to the leading vehicle’s emergency stop. The driving performances were assessed by collecting and statistically analyzing several variables of maneuver stability: the drivers’ brake reaction times, driving speed fluctuation, car-following distance undulation, and car-following time-headway undulation. The results revealed that normal conversation on a hands-free cellular phone impaired driving performance. The degree of impairment caused by normal calculation was equivalent to the distraction caused by Level 3 mathematical calculations according to the seven-level calculation baseline. The calculation difficulty of Level 3 is one double-digit figure plus a single-digit figure, and non-carry addition mental arithmetic is required, e.g., 44 + 4. The results indicated that an increase in the level of complexity of the calculation task was associated with an increase in brake reaction time. The seven-level calculation-task baseline could be applied to measure additional distraction effects on driving performance for further comparison.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 19 Jul 2018 14:45:26 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1519819</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Adaptive warning signals adjusted to driver passenger conversation: Impact of system awareness on behavioral adaptations</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1519771</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The study investigated behavioral adaptation caused by warning signals that adaptively support drivers engaged in a passenger conversation. Novel advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) could monitor the driver state to provide warnings adjusted to the driver’s current need for support. While first research indicates positive effects of dynamically adjusting ADAS, the overall safety potential of such adaptive systems remains unclear as little is known about adverse behavioral effects. Occasional inappropriate support due to an incorrect prediction of the current driver state might lead to critical situations when drivers are aware of the adaptive nature of the system and thus rely on the expected system behavior. To better understand behavioral adaptation to dynamically adjusting warnings, 46 participants driving on a test track reacted to two types of warnings (auditory, vibrotactile-auditory) while engaging in driver-passenger conversation or not. In a compensating warning strategy, vibrotactile-auditory warnings were displayed during conversations and auditory warnings in situations without conversation. This strategy was compared to a non-compensating warning strategy in which these assignments were reversed. The impact of behavioral adaptation was measured by considering reactions to simulated failures of these strategies. The role of system awareness for behavioral adaptation was investigated by manipulating awareness of these warning strategies across groups. The authors found that vibrotactile-auditory warnings reduced the detrimental effects of conversation on reaction times. Crucially, adverse behavioral adaptation was observed whenever an expected vibrotactile-auditory warning was replaced by an auditory warning but this effect was restricted to drivers in the awareness group. The results show that adaptive warning signals optimize the effectiveness of warnings during driver-passenger conversation but adverse behavioral adaptation develops when drivers are aware of the underlying warning strategy. This implies that future adaptive systems are less likely to be associated with behavioral adaptation if the adaptive nature of the system remains unnoticeable to the driver. The authors' findings could be used for developing and optimizing user-centered ADAS.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 19 Jul 2018 14:45:25 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1519771</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>The Study on the Influence of Conversation with Passenger on Driver’s Arousal Maintenance and Mental Workload</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1512523</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The effect of conversation with a passenger on driver’s arousal was examined using a driving simulator. Results showed that conversation increased driver’s arousal while maintaining the level of mental workload within the allowable range. Additionally, driving stability measured by lane-keeping performance was improved by carrying on a conversation. These results indicate that, even though conversation with a passenger is sometimes regarded as a source of distraction, it can be beneficial for a driver’s performance especially when that driver’s drowsiness is a problem.同乗者との会話がドライバの覚醒に与える影響について調べた．結果，会話はドライバのメンタルワークロードを許容範囲内に収めつつ覚醒を高めた．また，運転の安定性は会話によって高まった．同乗者との会話は時に妨害の原因とされるが，特にドライバの眠気が問題となる場合には運転に有益となりうることを示している．]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 25 Jun 2018 13:49:48 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1512523</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Basic Structure of Conversation for Keeping Drivers Awake</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1512504</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This paper presents the fundamental study of the method for keeping drivers awake at the wheel through conversation. The authors focused on the structure of a conversation and applied Verbal Response Modes (VRM) for analyzing the conversations, which were made between awake and/or drowsy drivers and an operator. The results suggested that the number of drivers’ disclosure and the number of operator’s reflection during a block of conversation are the features of the VRM balance, which is factored into an effective conversation for awakening drivers.会話によってドライバの覚醒を維持する技術の基礎検討結果を報告する．覚醒維持時間別の会話構造をVerbal Response Modes (VRM)に基づいて分析した．覚醒群の会話には特有のVRMバランスが存在し，ドライバの開示回数とオペレータの応答回数が覚醒効果のある会話の特徴となる可能性を示した．]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 25 Jun 2018 13:49:47 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1512504</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Dynamic Workload Fluctuations in Driver/Non-Driver Conversational Dyads</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1509258</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The authors developed a new method for simultaneously assessing the workload of a driver and a non-driver engaged in natural conversation either in the vehicle or over a cell phone. For both the driver and non-driver, talking was found to be more demanding than listening and the pattern was identical for both passenger conversations and cell phone conversations. Operating the vehicle  increased the workload for the driver over and above the conversation task. The effects of driving (or not) and talking (or not) were found to be additive. The data reveal a pattern of dynamic fluctuation in workload in driver/non-driver conversational dyads.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 24 Apr 2018 09:26:22 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1509258</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>How Common In-Car Distractions Affect Driving Performance in Simple and Complex Road Environments</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1508769</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Distracted driving (driving while performing a secondary task) is the cause of many collisions. Although the research has stressed the deleterious effects of distraction, there may be situations where distraction improves driving performance. Boredom is associated with collision risk, and it is possible that some types of secondary task may combat boredom on simple monotonous drives. In this study, licensed drivers were tested in a driving simulator (a car body surrounded by screens) that simulated simple or complex roads. Road complexity was manipulated by increasing traffic, scenery, and the number of curves in the drive. Participants either drove (single task), or they drove while listening to an audiobook or having a hands-free cellular phone conversation. Driving performance was measured in terms of speed, standard deviation of speed, standard deviation of lateral position (SDLP), and hazard response times. Task condition and road complexity had no significant effect on driving speed or standard deviation of speed. There was a trend to greater SDLP on the simple drives, where there was little oncoming traffic, though this was only statistically significant in the Audiobook condition. However, there was also evidence that audiobooks could be beneficial. On simple roads, drivers listening to audiobooks had significantly faster hazard response times that those that were driving (single task) or driving while having a hands-free conversation, though this pattern of response was not evident on complex drives. These results suggest that audiobooks could play a role in helping drivers stay focused on monotonous drives.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 24 Apr 2018 09:26:21 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1508769</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Modelling driver distraction effects due to mobile phone use on reaction time</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1460484</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Phone use during driving causes decrease in situation awareness and delays response to the events happening in driving environment which may lead to accidents. Reaction time is one of the most suitable parameters to measure the effect of distraction on event detection performance. Therefore, this paper reports the results of a simulator study which analysed and modelled the effects of mobile phone distraction upon reaction time of the Indian drivers belonging to three different age groups. Two different types of hazardous events: (1) pedestrian crossing event and (2) road crossing event by parked vehicles were included for measuring drivers’ reaction times. Four types of mobile phone distraction tasks: simple conversation, complex conversation, simple texting and complex texting were included in the experiment. Two Weibull AFT (Accelerated Failure Time) models were developed for the reaction times against both the events separately, by taking all the phone use conditions and various other factors (such as age, gender, and phone use habits during driving) as explanatory variables. The developed models showed that in case of pedestrian crossing event, the phone use tasks: simple conversation, complex conversation, simple texting and complex texting caused 40%, 95%, 137% and 204% increment in the reaction times and in case of road crossing event by parked vehicles, the tasks caused 48%, 65%, 121% and 171% increment in reaction times respectively. Thus all the phone use conditions proved to be the most significant factors in degrading the driving performance.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 01 May 2017 09:37:06 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1460484</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>An ANN Model for Detecting Secondary Tasks from Driving Behavior Attributes: A Naturalistic Driving Study</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1438968</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Distracted driving has long been acknowledged as one of the leading causes of death or injury in roadway crashes. The focus of past research has been mainly on the impact of different causes of distraction on driving behavior. However, only a few studies attempted to address how some driving behavior attributes could be linked to the cause of distraction. In essence, this study takes advantage of the rich Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS) database to develop a model for detecting the likelihood of a driver’s involvement in secondary tasks from distinctive attributes of driving behavior. Five performance attributes, namely speed, longitudinal acceleration, lateral acceleration, yaw rate, and throttle position were used to describe the driving behavior. A model was developed for each of three selected secondary tasks: calling, texting, and passenger interaction. The models were developed using a supervised feed-forward Artificial Neural Network (ANN) architecture to account for the effect of inherent nonlinearity in the relationships between driving behavior and secondary tasks. The results show that the developed ANN models were able to detect the drivers’ involvement in calling, texting, and passenger interaction with an accuracy of 96.3%, 95.6%, and 95.2%, respectively. These results show that the selected driving performance attributes were effective in detecting the associated secondary tasks with driving behavior. The results are very promising and the developed models could potentially be applied in crash investigations to resolve legal disputes in traffic accidents.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 28 Mar 2017 11:38:45 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1438968</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Investigating the Effect of Area Type and Traffic Conditions on Distracted Driving Performance</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1414256</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Although driver distraction can be considered as part of everyday driving it constitutes a basic contributory factor for increased risk for road accidents internationally. Within this content, cell-phone use and conversation with passenger are two critical in-vehicle distraction conditions with respect to driver behavior and safety. The objective of this research is the investigation of the effect of area and traffic conditions on driving performance of drivers while talking on the mobile phone or conversing with the passenger. For this purpose, a large driving simulator experiment is carried out, in which 95 drivers from all different age groups (young, middle aged and older) were asked to drive under different types of distraction (no distraction, conversation with passenger, cell phone use) in rural and urban road environment, in low and high traffic. In the next step, an appropriate modelling methodology has been developed, including first descriptive analysis in order to explore the large database. Then generalized linear models as well as generalized linear mixed models regarding average speed and reaction time were implemented in order to estimate the effect of the examined distraction sources as well as area and traffic characteristics on driving behaviour and road safety. Results indicate that female drivers, especially in rural areas, were found to have the worst reaction times, while being distracted (either conversing with a passenger or talking on the cell phone). This is probably explained by the fact that in urban area, the complex road environment alerts the drivers in order to self-regulate their driving to compensate for any decrease in attention to the driving task. Furthermore, regarding average speed, it is observed that in rural areas drivers reduce the speed while distracted either by talking on the mobile phone (older drivers) or by conversing with the passenger (young and middle aged drivers), especially at high traffic volume while in urban areas suggesting a driver's compensatory behaviour. The next steps of the present research could focus on the investigation of the impact of mobile phone use, not only when the drivers talk on mobile phone using a hand-held device, but also when they use a hands-free device, a Bluetooth, or when they type messages.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 03 Oct 2016 12:41:32 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1414256</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Characterizing the Effect of Videophone Conversations on Intersection Driving Performance</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1371511</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The present study examined the efficacy of videophone conversations for enhancing conversation partner situational awareness and mitigating cell phone distraction during intersection drives. Younger and older drivers drove through simulated intersections in four conditions: undistracted, with an in-car passenger, with a remote partner who could see the driver and a subset of the driving scene via a videophone, and with a remote partner on a cell phone. Relative to the cell phone condition, passenger and videophone conversations enhanced situational awareness and mitigated distraction. Younger and older drivers showed similar benefits, although there were age-related costs to driving performance overall. Videophone information offers a simple and promising potential strategy to enhance partner situational awareness during cell phone conversations, even when the conversation partner can see only a subset of the driving scene.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2015 16:25:18 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1371511</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>System facilitators and barriers to discussing older driver safety in primary care settings</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1366662</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Primary care physicians and other health professionals can play a significant role in ensuring older driver safety through counseling. However, conversations about driving are often not routine, arising only when there are safety concerns. In this study, the authors use qualitative methods to examine system-level barriers and facilitators affecting routine discussions in primary care settings about driving. Interviews with healthcare providers (including physicians, nurses, medical assistants, social workers and administrative staff) are conducted. A number of primary themes emerge through the interviews, and the article discusses the complexity of defined provider roles within primary care settings, the inadequate resources available for provider support, the lack of adequate training on older driver assessment and counseling, and models to enhance conversations between providers and older drivers. The authors suggest that understanding system-level factors can inform the development of programs that support driving safety discussions with older drivers.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2015 16:30:51 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1366662</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Effects of Conversation on Situation Awareness and Working Memory in Simulated Driving</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1320274</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In the present research, the authors investigated the hypothesis that working memory mediates conversation-induced impairment of situation awareness (SA) while driving. Although there is empirical evidence that conversation impairs driving performance, the cognitive mechanisms that mediate this relationship remain underspecified. Researchers have reported that a phonological working memory task decreased drivers’ SA for vehicles located behind them whereas a visuospatial working memory task impaired SA for vehicles ahead. Conversation, therefore, might impair SA for vehicles behind the driver by preferentially taxing the phonological loop. A 20-questions task was used as a proxy for natural conversation. In Experiment 1, driving performance was measured across three within-subjects conversation conditions (i.e., no conversation, driver asks questions, driver answers questions) with the use of a driving simulator. In Experiment 2, participants drove in the same simulator while either conversing (20-questions task) or not. Participants estimated the positions of other vehicles after the screens were blanked at the end of each trial. Speed monitoring and responses to visual probes were impaired by the 20-questions conversation task (Experiment 1). As predicted, conversation impaired SA for the location of other vehicles more for vehicles located behind the driver than for those in front (Experiment 2). Conversation impairs drivers’ SA of vehicles behind them by taxing working memory’s phonological loop and impairs SA generally by taxing working memory’s central executive. This paper provides a theoretical framework that links driver SA to working memory and a mechanism for understanding why conversation impairs driving performance.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 28 Aug 2014 09:12:36 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1320274</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Naturalistic conversation improves daytime motorway driving performance under a benzodiazepine: A randomised, crossover, double-blind, placebo-controlled study</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1309441</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The adverse effects of benzodiazepines on driving are widely recognised. The aims of this study were both to determine the impact of naturalistic conversation on the driving ability of drivers under a benzodiazepine, and to measure the accuracy of drivers’ assessments of the joint effects of the benzodiazepine and conversation. Sixteen healthy male participants (29.69 ± 3.30 years) underwent a randomised, crossover, double-blind, placebo-controlled study with the benzodiazepine lorazepam (2 mg). They drove 200 km (125 miles) on a motorway in the morning. The authors measured two driving ability-related variables (i.e., lane-keeping performance), and collected a set of self-assessed variables (i.e., self-assessment of driving performance) during two 10-min sequences of interest (no conversation vs. conversation). An analysis of variance revealed an interaction whereby lane-keeping performance under lorazepam was worse in the no-conversation condition than in the conversation condition. No such difference was detected under placebo. Pearson's correlation coefficients revealed that self-assessments were (i) not at all predictive of lane-keeping when performed before the drive, but (ii) moderately predictive of lane-keeping performance when performed during or after the drive. The authors conclude that conversation with a passenger may contribute to safer lane-keeping when driving under a benzodiazepine. Moreover, a degree of awareness may be attained after some experience of driving under the influence of this type of medication.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 26 Jun 2014 09:31:35 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1309441</guid>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>