Distracted Driving: Strategies and State of the Practices

This technical assistance report conducted an extensive literature review to obtain the state of knowledge on existing research on distracted driving in the US. The objective of this report was to review relevant studies on distracted driving including measurements, strategies, legislation, employer policies, and technologies used nationally to prevent distracted driving, to acquire the information needed to address distracted driving in Louisiana. Distracted driving has been measured in several types of studies, including crash data, observational, attitudinal, enforcement, naturalistic driving, and driving simulators. The number of states that included distracted driving as an emphasis area in their Strategic Highway Safety Plans (SHSPs) has increased over the last few years. The strategies used to address distracting driving are typically focused on improving data collection, education, enforcement and adjudication, engineering, and legislation. Nationally, there are hand-held cell phone bans, text messaging bans, and all cell phone bans. Currently, 16 states and 4 territories have hand-held cell phones bans for all drivers as a primary enforcement law while 47 states and 4 territories ban text messaging for all drivers. The effectiveness of hand-held cell phone bans on hand-held phone use appeared to maintain long term reductions but on crashes showed mixed results. Employers have begun implementing their own policies regarding hand-held cell phone use while driving. National Road Safety Partnership Program of Australia and the National Safety Council released kits that can be used as groundwork by employers to develop their distracted driving policy. Distracted driving technologies range from being completely free to upwards of $150, depending on if they are app-only or what type of hardware is required. Overall, there are varying degrees of distracted driving prevention for drivers, ranging from simply rendering the phone useless while in motion to actually changing the capabilities of the vehicle. However, there is no research data to support the effectiveness of these technologies. Nationally, the state of the practice to address distracted driving and improve roadway safety focused on improving data collection, legislation, enforcement, improving infrastructure, and communication and outreach.

• Record URL:
  http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/pdf/2019/17-02TA-SA.pdf
• 
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/44237
• Corporate Authors:

  Louisiana Transportation Research Center

  4101 Gourrier Avenue
  Baton Rouge, LA  United States  70808

  Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development

  1201 Capitol Access Road, P.O. Box 94245
  Baton Rouge, LA  United States  70804-9245

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Mitran, Elisabeta
  • Ellender, Tess
  • Cummins, Dortha
• Publication Date: 2019-2

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Technical Assistance Report
• Features: References;
• Pagination: 60p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cellular telephones; Data collection; Distraction; Education; Legislation; Literature reviews; State of the practice; Strategic planning; Traffic law enforcement
• Identifier Terms: Strategic Highway Safety Plans
• Uncontrolled Terms: Distracted drivers
• Geographic Terms: Louisiana
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01711238
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA/LA.18/17-02TA-SA, LTRC Project Number: 17-02TA-SA
• Files: NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jul 17 2019 5:57PM