http://www.youthforroadsafety.org/uploa ... ooklet.pdfThe simulator study set out to investigate the impact of using facebook on a smartphone on driving performance.Facebook was selected for use in the study due to its popularity (there are around 30 million facebook users in the UK).
TRL designed a test drive which mimicked natural driving situations; participants were asked to drive on a motorway and a two-lane loop. At different stages they were asked to react to visual and audio stimuli by pressing the clutch pedal as quickly as possible. Participants were also asked to remain a safe distance behind the car in front which varied its speeds.
Twenty eight young male and female participants took part in the study; all had previous experience of using facebook via a smartphone. The participants completed one drive to familiarise themselves with the simulator, a control drive and a drive while using facebook. The order of the control drive and the drive using the smartphone was alternated between participants so that familiarisation with the route would not affect the results.
Participants were asked to send and check messages on facebook and update their statuses. Researchers monitored
their lane position, speed and reaction times. They also monitored the amount of time spent looking at the road, as
well as the ability to perform the smartphone task.
Simulator results
The results of the experiment clearly show that participants’ driving performance was impaired by the smartphone task.
There was a significant impact on:
• Time spent looking at the road
• Reaction times to stimuli
• Lane position
• Speed
When using facebook participants spent between 40 per cent and 60 per cent of their time looking down while using a smartphone to write or read messages, compared with about 10 per cent of the time looking down normally.
Reaction times to visual and auditory stimuli were found to increase by approximately 37.6 per cent when using a
smartphone to send and receive messages on facebook, and participants often missed events completely.
Participants using facebook were unable to maintain a central lane position and this resulted in an increased number of unintentional lane departures, they were also unable to respond as quickly to a lead vehicle gradually changing speed. There was a tendency to reduce speed to use the smartphone, however, this did not prevent driving performance from deteriorating.
These results suggest that participants’ driving was significantly impaired when they were using a smartphone while driving. The researchers concluded that three types of distraction affected driver behaviour; having to concentrate on the smartphone task (cognitive), holding the phone (physical), and the significant increase in time spent looking at the phone (visual) in order to interact with it.
Your 'standard' is how you drive alone, not how you drive during a test.