The increasing use of mobile phones while cycling has raised safety concerns. In this paper two studies of mobile phone use by cyclists are presented.

The first study was designed to characterize mobile phone use by cyclists in Sweden, while the second studied how mobile phone use affected cyclist behaviour and compensation strategies. Mobile phone use was observed in about 20 percent of all urban bicycle trips. The usage varied with cyclist age with the highest usage among young cyclists. Of those using phones, 90% of the cyclists observed used head-phones.

In parallel, standardized, interviews 15% of cyclists under 15 years old stated that they always used mobile phones while cycling. Listening to music in headphones was the most fre-quent self-reported activity. To converse using hand-held phones was also rather common, and was the only mobile phone usage reported by women above 50 years old.

In the second study twenty-two young cyclists (age 16-25 years) completed a route in real traffic five times while listening to music, receiving and making calls, receiving and sending text messages, searching for information on the internet and while cycling normally without using the phone. The route and the types of tasks were controlled, but the cyclists could choose rather freely when, where and how to carry out the tasks. When the cyclist returned to the starting point, a short interview was conducted. During the interviews cyclists reported their experiences and the compensation strategies they used while cycling.

The use of mobile phone and similar devices while driving has been a topic of discussion and research for several years. It is now an established fact that driving performance is deteriorated due to distraction but no clear conclusions can yet be drawn concerning influence on crash rates. Better studies on this relationship is needed. Most countries in Europe and many countries elsewhere have introduced different types of bans for handheld devices. Sweden has, however, no such bans. VTI was commissioned by the Swedish Government to outline possible means to reduce the dangerous usage of mobile phones and other communication devices while driving as alternatives to banning. This task was a result of a previous VTI-state-of-the-art review of research on mobile phone and other communication device usage while driving. One of the findings in the review was that bans on handheld phones did not appear to reduce the number of crashes.

Eighteen different countermeasures in three main areas were suggested. (1) Technical solutions such as countermeasures directed towards the infrastructure, the vehicle and the communication device. (2) Education and information, describing different ways to increase knowledge and understanding among stakeholders and different driver categories. (3) Different possibilities for how society, industry and organisations can influence the behaviour of individuals, via policies, rules, recommendations and incentives. Our conclusion is that a combination of different countermeasures is needed – where education and information to the drivers are combined with support and incentives for a safe usage of different communication devices.

This paper presents initial work on a context-dependent driver distraction detection algorithm called AttenD2.0, which extends the original AttenD algorithm with elements from the Minimum Required Attention (MiRA) theory. Central to the original AttenD algorithm is a time buffer which keeps track of how often and for how long the driver looks away from the forward roadway. When the driver looks away the buffer is depleted and when looking back the buffer fills up. If the buffer runs empty the driver is classified as distracted. AttenD2.0 extends this concept by adding multiple buffers, thus integrating situation dependence and visual time-sharing behaviour in a transparent manner. Also, the increment and decrement of the buffers are now controlled by both static requirements (e.g. the presence of an on-ramp increases the need to monitor the sides and the mirrors) as well as dynamic requirements (e.g., reduced speed lowers the need to monitor the speedometer). The algorithm description is generic, but a real-time implementation with concrete values for different parameters is showcased in a driving simulator experiment with 16 bus drivers, where AttenD2.0 was used to ensure that drivers are attentive before taking back control after an automated bus stop docking and depot procedure. The scalability of AttenD2.0 relative to available data sources and the level of vehicle automation is demonstrated. Future work includes expanding the concept to real-world environments by automatically integrating situational information from the vehicles environmental sensing and from digital maps.

Av resultaten från denna enkät är något av det mest tydliga att saker som funnits i en bil en längre tid, exempelvis att ställa in radio, använda navigationsutrustning och prata i telefon, görs i betydligt högre utsträckning än nyare saker som att skicka meddelanden, surfa på internet eller spela spel. Överlag tycks det vara låg acceptans för de nyare företeelserna och en stor andel av urvalet tycker att det är felaktigt eller olämpligt att hålla på med dessa aktiviteter. Att prata i telefon med handsfree tycks uppfattas av många som säkrare och mer lämpligt än att inte använda det. Detta avspeglas även i inställning till införandet av förbud, där en relativt stor andel accepterar att det ska vara lagligt att använda handsfreefunktioner men att annan användning av kommunikationsutrustning borde förbjudas.

I den andra delen genomfördes en mätning av mobilanvändning under färd genom installerande tav en mobilapp. Den genomförda undersökningen är den första av sitt slag åtminstone i Sverige, så att den, trots vissa brister och begränsningar, kan leverera information som hittills har varit okänt. I detta del diskuteras resultaten, även i förhållande till enkätsvaren, följt av en reflektion över metoden och möjliga förbättringar, som är önskvärda inför en fortsättningsstudie.

Indicators based on visual time-sharing have been used to investigate drivers' visual behaviour during additional task execution. However, visual time-sharing analyses have been restricted to additional tasks with well-defined temporal start and end points and a dedicated visual target area. We introduce a method to automatically extract visual time-sharing sequences directly from eye tracking data. This facilitates investigations of systems, providing continuous information without well-defined start and end points. Furthermore, it becomes possible to investigate time-sharing behavior with other types of glance targets such as the mirrors. Time-sharing sequences are here extracted based on between-glance durations. If glances to a particular target are separated by less than a time-based threshold value, we assume that they belong to the same information intake event. Our results indicate that a 4-s threshold is appropriate. Examples derived from 12 drivers (about 100 hours of eye tracking data), collected in an on-road investigation of an in-vehicle information system, are provided to illustrate sequence-based analyses. This includes the possibility to investigate human-machine interface designs based on the number of glances in the extracted sequences, and to increase the legibility of transition matrices by deriving them from time-sharing sequences instead of single glances. More object-oriented glance behavior analyses, based on additional sensor and information fusion, are identified as the next future step. This would enable automated extraction of time-sharing sequences not only for targets fixed in the vehicle's coordinate system, but also for environmental and traffic targets that move independently of the driver's vehicle.

While in-vehicle eco-driving support systems have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save fuel, they may also distract drivers, especially if the system makes use of a visual interface. The objective of this study is to investigate the visual behaviour of drivers interacting with such a system, implemented on a five-inch screen mounted above the middle console. Ten drivers participated in a real-world, on-road driving study where they drove a route nine times (2 pre-baseline drives, 5 treatment drives, 2 post-baseline drives). The route was 96 km long and consisted of rural roads, urban roads and a dual-lane motorway.

The results show that drivers look at the system for 5–8% of the time, depending on road type, with a glance duration of about 0.6 s, and with 0.05% long glances (>2s) per kilometre. These figures are comparable to what was found for glances to the speedometer in this study. Glance behaviour away from the windscreen is slightly increased in treatment as compared to pre- and post-baseline, mirror glances decreased in treatment and post-baseline compared to pre-baseline, and speedometer glances increased compared to pre-baseline. The eco-driving support system provided continuous information interspersed with additional advice pop-ups (announced by a beep) and feedback pop-ups (no auditory cue). About 20% of sound initiated advice pop-ups were disregarded, and the remaining cases were usually looked at within the first two seconds. About 40% of the feedback pop-ups were disregarded. The amount of glances to the system immediately before the onset of a pop-up was clearly higher for feedback than for advice.

Many incidents and crashes can be attributed to driver distraction, and it is essential to learn how to detectdistraction in order to develop efficient countermeasures. A number of distraction detection algorithms have been developed over the years, and the objective of this paper is to summarize available approaches and to describe these algorithms in a unified framework. The review is limited to real-time algorithms that are intended to detect visual distraction.

Snow was falling heavily when Sarah was driving on a slippery road to her cousin’s country cottage. It was dark outside, and the visibility was poor. She had planned to arrive before sunset, but the rental service had made a mistake, and it took hours before she got her rental car at the airport. It was past midnight now, and after a long day of traveling, Sarah was starting to get sleepy.

Fortunately, there were only 15 km to go, but her eyelids were starting to feel heavy. To stay awake, she put her favorite CD on, turned up the volume, and started to sing along. This seemed to help a little -good- only 10 km to go. This was when Sarah’s phone started ringing, and she awkwardly tried to find the mute button for the car stereo while answering the phone. As she looked up again, she barely caught a glimpse of the red brake lights of the car in front of her as she smashed into it.

Driver distraction is a contributing factor to many crashes; therefore, a real-time distraction warning system should have the potential to mitigate or circumvent many of these crashes. The objective of this paper is to investigate the usefulness of a real-time distraction detection algorithm called AttenD. The evaluation is based on data from an extended field study comprising seven drivers who drove on an average of 4351 ± 2181 km in a naturalistic setting.

Visual behavior was investigated both on a global scale and on a local scale in the surroundings of each warning. An increase in the percentage of glances at the rear-view mirror and a decrease in the amount of glances at the center console were found. The results also show that visual time sharing decreased in duration from 9.94 to 9.20 s due to the warnings, that the time from fully attentive to warning decreased from 3.20 to 3.03 s, and that the time from warning to full attentiveness decreased from 6.02 to 5.46 s. The limited number of participants does not allow any generalizable conclusions, but a trend toward improved visual behavior could be observed. This is a promising start for further improvements of the algorithm and the warning strategy.

Percent road center (PRC) is a performance indicator which is sensitive to driver distraction. The original definition of PRC is based on fixation data extracted from eye movement recordings, but it has also been suggested that PRC can be determined directly from the gaze data without segmenting it into saccades and fixations. The primary aim of this paper is to investigate if this is the case.

Naturalistic driving data from a small scale field operational test comprising seven vehicles was used in the evaluation. It was found that PRC time traces based on gaze data and fixation data, respectively, were highly similar (correlation coefficient=0.95, average wavelet semblance=0.84) except for an absolute amplitude difference of about 8%. This indicates that the two approaches can be used interchangeably and that the processing step of segmenting gaze data into saccades and fixations can be left out.

In addition to this finding, design issues related to the calculation of PRC are investigated. Especially, the impact of gaze cases pointing towards the intersection of the road centre area and the centre rear mirror were investigated. Results lead to conclude that gazes and fixations on the centre rear mirror should be removed from the PRC calculations, as they may negatively influence the correctness of the performance indicator.

Eye tracking (ET) has been used extensively in driver attention research. Amongst other findings, ET data have increased our knowledge about what drivers look at in different traffic environments and how they distribute their glances when interacting with non-driving related tasks. Eye tracking is also the go-to method when determining driver distraction via glance target classification. At the same time, eye trackers are limited in the sense that they can only objectively measure the gaze direction. To learn more about why drivers look where they do, what information they acquire foveally and peripherally, how the road environment and traffic situation affect their behavior, and how their own expertise influences their actions, it is necessary to go beyond counting the targets that the driver foveates. In this perspective paper, we suggest a glance analysis approach that classifies glances based on their purpose. The main idea is to consider not only the intention behind each glance, but to also account for what is relevant in the surrounding scene, regardless of whether the driver has looked there or not. In essence, the old approaches, unaware as they are of the larger context or motivation behind eye movements, have taken us as far as they can. We propose this more integrative approach to gain a better understanding of the complexity of drivers' informational needs and how they satisfy them in the moment.

A driving simulator study was conducted by using the same setup in two driving simulators, one with a moving base and one with a fixed base. The aim of the study was to investigate a selection of commonly used performance indicators (PIs) for their sensitivity to secondary tasks loading on different modalities and levels of difficulty, and to evaluate their robustness across simulator platforms. The results showed that, across platforms, the longitudinal PIs behaved similarly whereas the lateral control and eye movement based performance indicators differed. For modality, there were considerable effects on lateral, longitudinal as well as eye movement PIs. However, there were only limited differences between the baseline and the cognitive and haptic tasks. For difficulty, clear effects on PIs related to lateral control and eye movements were shown. Additionally, it should be noted that there were large individual differences for several of the PIs. In conclusion, many of the most commonly used PIs are susceptible to individual differences, and, especially the PIs for lateral control, to the platform and environment where they are acquired, which is why generalizations should be made with caution.

Visual distraction among cyclists interacting with their mobile phones is a growing concern. Yet, very little research has actually investigated how cyclists apply visual strategies and adapt task execution depending on the traffic situation. The aim of this study is to investigate visual behaviour of cyclists when conducting self-paced (initiated by the cyclist) vs. system-paced (initiated by somebody else) smartphone tasks in traffic. Twenty-two cyclists completed a track in real traffic while listening to music, receiving and making calls, receiving and sending text messages, and searching for information on the internet. The route and the types of tasks were controlled, but the cyclists could choose rather freely when and where along the route to carry out the tasks, thus providing semi-naturalistic data on compensatory behaviour. The results show that the baseline and music conditions were similar in terms of visual behaviour. When interacting with the phone, it was found that glances towards the phone mostly came at the expense of glances towards traffic irrelevant gaze targets and also led to shortened glance durations to traffic relevant gaze targets, while maintaining the number of glances. This indicates that visual “spare capacity” is used for the execution of the telephone tasks. The task type influenced the overall task duration and the overall glance intensity towards the phone, but not the mean nor maximum duration of individual glances. Task pacing was the factor that influenced visual behaviour the most, with longer mean and maximum glance durations for self-paced tasks. In conclusion, the cyclists used visual strategies to integrate the handling of mobile phones into their cycling behaviour. Glances directed towards the phone did not lead to traffic relevant gaze targets being missed. In system-paced scenarios, the cyclists checked the traffic more frequently and intensively than in self-paced tasks. This leads to the assumption that cyclists prepare for self-initiated tasks by for example choosing a suitable location. Future research should investigate whether these strategies also exists amongst drivers and other road user groups.

To successfully get around in traffic it is often necessary to keep track of several relevant targets at the same time. This can be done by combining foveal and peripheral visual information sampling. Especially if no detailed input is needed, for example when confirming the absence of road users, it may be enough to use peripheral vision only. Using a driving simulator with an urban scenery, 35 participants passed three zebra crossings with a) no pedestrians nearby, b) pedestrians standing nearby and c) pedestrians nearby of whom one started walking towards the street. In the last case, all participants foveated the walking person, albeit around one third of the participants already released the throttle before the first glance at the pedestrian. The standing pedestrians were foveated in almost all instances, whereas the roadside nearby the zebra crossing without people nearby was not foveated by around a quarter of the participants. Taken together, the results indicate that peripheral vision may suffice to confirm the absence or presence of pedestrians. With people present, a glance towards them is initiated, likely to check for additional information. Throttle release before foveation is an indication that the walking pedestrian was detected as relevant with peripheral vision.

The prevalence of mobile phone usage in traffic has been studied by road-side counting, naturalistic driving data, surveillance cameras, smartphone logging, and subjective estimates via surveys. Here, we describe a custom-made smartphone logging application along with suggestions on how future such applications should be designed. The developed application logs’ start and end times of all phone interactions (mobile phone applications, incoming/outgoing phone calls and text messages, audio output, and screen activations). In addition, all movements are automatically classified into transport, cycling, walking, running, or stationary. The capabilities of the approach are demonstrated in a pilot study with 143 participants. Examples of results that can be gained from smartphone logging include prevalence in different transportation modes (here found to be 12% while driving, 4% while cycling, and 7% while walking), which apps are being used (here found to be 19% navigation, 12% talking, 12% social media, and 10% games) and on which road types (rural, urban, highway etc.). Smartphone logging was found to be an insightful complement to the other methods for assessing phone use in traffic, especially since it allows the analyses of which apps are used and where they are used, split into transportation mode and road type, all at a relatively low cost.

While the negative effects of alcohol on driving performance are undisputed, it is unclear how driver attention, eye movements and visual information sampling are affected by alcohol consumption. A simulator study with 35 participants was conducted to investigate whether and how a driver's level of attention is related to self-paced non-driving related task (NDRT)-engagement and tactical aspects of undesirable driver behaviour under increasing levels of breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) up to 1.0 ‰. Increasing BrAC levels lead to more frequent speeding, short time headways and weaving, and higher NDRT engagement. Instantaneous distraction events become more frequent, with more and longer glances to the NDRT, and a general decline in visual attention to the forward roadway. With alcohol, the compensatory behaviour that is typically seen when drivers engage in NDRTs did not appear. These findings support the theory that alcohol reduces the ability to shift attention between multiple tasks. To conclude, the independent reduction in safety margins in combination with impaired attention and an increased willingness to engage in NDRTs is likely the reason behind increased crash risk when driving under the influence of alcohol. © 2023

In connection with boarding and alighting bus passengers are exposed to risks caused by other traffic. Children are especially vulnerable when traveling to and from school, and there are strong reasons for urging the vehicles passing a stationary school transport to reduce their speed significantly. Based on the experience of a previous project it was decided to propose the imposition of a limit of 30 km/h when there is a stationary school transport throughout the country on roads with speed limits of 70 km/h and less. In connection with a change of the traffic regulations it is important to create a school bus sign that is respected by all road users. The purpose of this study is to develop and test a school bus sign that has a high degree of conspicuity, and can be detected and read from an adequate distance. Most important, it has to be understood and respected. The study results will provide a basis for a set of requirements on a sign that should make drivers reduce their speed to 30 km/h when passing a stationary school bus. The study includes both workshops and focus groups with various stakeholders, one indoor and one outdoor lab experiment, and a field test. The results from the sub-studies lead to a recommendation to use a VMS-type sign that includes motion, which is more conspicuous than signs with a static symbol. It is expected that the final version of a digital sign will have a similar or better conspicuity and legibility than the traditional bus sign, which should increase compliance. Furthermore, it is likely that compliance with the new speed regulation will be improved when drivers not only are informed about the potential hazard source - children - but when they, too, are informed about the appropriate action - a speed reduction to 30 km/h.

This is a methodological paper with the aim to discuss pros and cons related to different tools and environments when evaluating the effect of warnings given to sleepy drivers. There is no simple answer to the question which platform is most suitable. It depends on the research question asked, and it is possible that different aspects of the problem should be approached with different methods. A driving simulator has clear advantages when high control and repeatability are paramount. A simulator can also be used when the driver has to be put into a potentially dangerous scenario. How ecologically valid the results obtained from a simulator in fact are depends very much on the fidelity of the simulator. A test track study is based on real driving and should have a higher degree of ecological validity. On the other hand, the test track most often consists of an unrealistic environment. For assessing the prevalence of drowsy driving in real traffic, and in order to investigate what drivers actually do when they receive a sleepiness warning, it is absolutely necessary to study their natural behaviour when they go about their daily routines. Here field operational tests or naturalistic driving studies are most suitable. A disadvantage is the lack of control.

As the number of people who reside and work in urban areas increases, so, too, do theneeds and demands placed on the infrastructure. This has led to severe congestion in manyEuropean cities, a situation which affects not only the environment in terms of pollution,but most notably levels of traffic safety. In Europe, tens of thousands of people are killed inroad traffic accidents, and more than 1 million are injured each year at a cost, which isestimated to exceed the total European Union budget by a factor of two. The majority ofaccidents involving injury occur within urban areas often at junctions, while the number offatalities outside these areas is greater, largely as a result of higher speed. Traffic safetyresearch has shown a biased interest in the problems associated with motorway and ruralareas in the past. There are many reasons, which advocate a greater interest in urban areas,in particular, those related to the safety of unprotected road users. In urban areas the trafficsystem context is more complex, where a mixed road user environment prevails and greaterperceptual and cognitive demands are placed on road users. In the past, many of the moresuccessful safety countermeasures have focused on designing the roadway to meet theneeds and limitations of road users. These solutions have, however, proved to be verycostly. Today, new and relatively cheap technological solutions referred to as IntelligentTransport Systems (ITS) have been developed which have the capacity to reduce exposure,accident risk, and accident severity. While the long term effects of these systems are largelyunknown, and problems associated with standardisation and legislation are in need ofresolve, systems such as Intelligent Speed Adaptation and advanced traffic control systemshave shown great potential with regard to the traffic safety problem in urban areas. In orderto effectuate this potential, a great deal of integrated multi-disciplinary research is required

The ASSET-Road project is focussing on improving road safety and road traffic by pushing different transportation stakeholders to interact between each other and integrating modern communication and sensing technologies. This deliverable is the result of the project tasks 3.1 (Regulation knowledge & awareness study), 3.2 (Situation identification & information presentation) and part of task 3.3 (Smart information provision Mechanism & HMI). In brief, objectives of the deliverable are: 1. to report the study conducted in task 3.1 where information about how deep drivers’ knowledge is (for truck and coaches drivers) have been collected in several countries in relation to road and safety regulations (e.g. speed limits on different roads, traffic rules, safety equipments, etc.). This is the first part of the document and includes two studies, the first one conducted in Europe and the second one conducted in Tanzania; a comparison between them is proposed; 2. to describe the smart In-Vehicle Information System specifications based on the requirements collected in WP1 (task 1.2 Users needs and requirements). In this section systems features are briefly introduced and the simulator study setup where the system will be tested is described, including scenario setup, situation identification and simulator iterations.

Real-world studies of driving behaviour and safety have face validity and have the distinct advantage of focussing on driving in its natural habitat. But their very naturalism can lead to problems with confounds and with noise in the data. This paper reviews the three major categories of on-road studies — controlled observation, field operational tests and naturalistic driving studies — and discusses the major applications of each study type. It also assesses some of the methodological issues that arise in one or more category of study.

OBJECTIVE: There is an increase in electronic advertising billboards along major roads, which may cause driver distraction due to the highly conspicuous design of the electronic billboards. Yet limited research on the impact of electronic billboards on driving performance and driver behavior is available. The Swedish Transport Administration recently approved the installation of 12 electronic billboards for a trial period along a 3-lane motorway with heavy traffic running through central Stockholm, Sweden. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of these electronic billboards on visual behavior and driving performance.

METHOD: A total of 41 drivers were recruited to drive an instrumented vehicle passing 4 of the electronic billboards during day and night conditions. A driver was considered visually distracted when looking at a billboard continuously for more than 2 s or if the driver looked away from the road for a high percentage of time. Dependent variables were eye-tracking measures and driving performance measures.

RESULTS: The visual behavior data showed that drivers had a significantly longer dwell time, a greater number of fixations, and longer maximum fixation duration when driving past an electronic billboard compared to other signs on the same road stretches. No differences were found for the factors day/night, and no effect was found for the driving behavior data.

CONCLUSION: Electronic billboards have an effect on gaze behavior by attracting more and longer glances than regular traffic signs. Whether the electronic billboards attract too much attention and constitute a traffic safety hazard cannot be answered conclusively based on the present data.

During the fall of 2021, the Swedish Transport Agency was commissioned by the Swedish Government to analyze and, if necessary, submit proposals for how changed traffic rules could lead to an increase in the proportion of road users who travel by bicycle. Against this background, the Swedish Transport Agency has engaged VTI, the Swedish Road and Transport Research Institute, to assist in the work by describing the state of knowledge based on current research in the relevant areas.

The aim of this study has been to investigate the spatial requirements of cyclists in different traffic situations and develop a basis for recommendations for designing cycling infrastructure regarding widths. Today, there are no rules or common construction practices for the physical design of cycle paths or cycle lanes in Sweden. Instead, it is up to each road authority to produce their own cross sections or recommendations and follow up on compliance.

The results in this report are based on literature studies regarding design standards and research on spatial requirements of cyclists. Recommendations are presented on minimum widths of cycle paths and cycle lanes depending on the possibility of meetings and overtaking, including consideration of cargo bikes, as well as safe distances to obstacles beside the road. An approach to model structure for assessing spatial requirements at higher flows of cyclists has also been developed.

The width of cycle paths can be varied depending on the desired dimensioning traffic situation. The dimensioning traffic situation is defined as the possibility of safe meetings or overtaking of a certain number of cyclists and pedestrians simultaneously on a cycle path or mixed-use path. From a maintenance perspective, however, it is advantageous to build bicycle infrastructure with a width of at least 2.5 meters, regardless of the traffic situation. Less width than that can result in lower efficiency for operation and maintenance with increased life cycle costs as a result.

The use of speech-based interaction over traditional means of interaction in secondary tasks may increase safety in demanding environments with high requirements on operator attention. Speech interfaces have suffered from issues similar to those of visual displays, as they often rely on a complex menu structure that corresponds to that of visual systems. Recent advances in speech technology allow the use of natural language, eliminating the need for menu structures and offering a tighter coupling between the intention to act and the completion of the action. Modern speech technology may not only make already existing types of interaction safer, but also opens up for new applications, which may enhance safety. One such application is a speech-based hazard reporting system. A small fixed-base simulator study showed that drivers adapt the timing of the hazard reports to the situation at hand, such that an increase in reported workload was avoided.

Contemporary Driving Automation (DA) is quickly approaching a level where partial autonomy will be available, relying on transferring control back to the driver when the operational limits of DA is reached. To explore what type of information drivers might prefer in control transitions an online test was constructed. The participants are faced with a set of still pictures of traffic situations of varying complexity levels and with different time constraints assituations and time available is likely to vary in real world scenarios. The choices drivers made were then assessed with regards to the contextual and temporal information available to participants. The results indicate that information preferences are dependent both on the complexity of the situation presented as well as the temporal constraints. The results also show that the different temporal and contextual conditions had an effect on decision-making time, where participants orient themselves quicker in the low complexity situations or when the available time is restricted. Furthermore, the method seem to identify changes in behaviour caused by varying the traffic situation and external time pressure. If the results can be validated against a more realistic setting, this particular method may prove to be a cost effective, easily disseminated tool which has potential to gather valuable insights about what information drivers prioritize when confronted with different situations.

In order to reduce the monetary and personal costs of driver training for persons with cerebral palsy, it is of interest to find a predictor that is able to select potential license holders. Previous research has shown that such a predictor could be one that assesses visual perception. In the present study, the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills (non-motor) Upper Level, was validated for predicting the outcome of driver education. It was found that using the test for this purpose could not be recommended. The findings of the present study were not in accordance with the results of other studies on the predictive value of perceptual tests regarding the ability to drive, owing to the use of different methods. Future studies should focus on cross-validation of perceptual tests for different types of independent variables, such as driving license or not, accident involvement and driving ability.

Two literature reviews were conducted in order to identify indicators of driver sleepiness and distraction. Three sleepiness indicators – blink duration, blink frequency and Perclos – were implemented in the camera system.

The aims of the study were firstly to develop and evaluate a low cost 1-camera unit for detection of driver impairment, and secondly to identify indicators of driver sleepiness and to create a sleepiness classifier for driving simulators.

The project included two experiments. The first was a field test where 18 participants conducted one alert and one sleepy driving session on a motorway. 16 of the 18 participants also participated in the second experiment which was a simulator study similar to the field test.

The field test data was used for evaluation of the 1-camera system, with respect to the sleepiness indicators. Blink parameters from the 1-camera system was compared to blink parameters obtained from a reference 3-camera system and from the EOG. It was found that the 1-camera system missed many blinks and that the blink duration was not in agreement with the blink duration obtained from the EOG and from the reference 3-camera system. However, the results also indicated that it should be possible to improve the blink detection algorithm since the raw data looked well in many cases where the algorithm failed to identify blinks.

The sleepiness classifier was created using data from the simulator experiment. In the first step, the indicators identified in the literature review were implemented and evaluated. The indicators also included driving and context related parameters in addition to the blink related ones. The most promising indicators were then used as inputs to the classifier.

The aim of the study was to investigate the perceived usefulness of various types of in-vehicle feedback and advice on fuel efficient driving. Twenty-four professional truck drivers participated in a driving simulator study. Two eco-driving support systems were included in the experiment: one that provided continuous information and one that provided intermittent information. After the simulator session, the participants were interviewed about their experiences of the various constituents of the systems. In general, the participants had a positive attitude towards eco-driving support systems and behavioural data indicated that they tended to comply with the advice given. However, different drivers had very different preferences with respect to what type of information they found useful. The majority of the participants preferred simple and clear information. The eco-driving constituents that were rated as most useful were advice on gas pedal pressure, speed guidance, feedback on manoeuvres, fuel consumption information and simple statistics. It is concluded that customisable user interfaces are recommended for eco-driving support systems for trucks.

En genomgång av litteratur från Sverige, Tyskland, USA och Australien under

1990- och 2000-talet rörande barn i bil har utförts. Undersökningens syfte

var att samla kunskap om skillnader i användning och felanvändning av

skyddsanordningar för barns säkerhet i bil beroende på sociala, ekonomiska,

geografiska eller kulturella förhållanden. Vi studerade också om det hade

genomförts några kampanjer eller andra insatser för att nå ut med information

till olika grupper i samhället. I föreliggande studie beskrivs resultat från

olika undersökningar av ickeanvändning samt felanvändning av

skyddsutrustning. Ickeanvändning av skyddsutrustning, det vill säga att

bälten inte används samt felanvändning av särskild skyddsutrustning för de

barn som använder/borde använda det, förekommer i alla länderna.

Ickeanvändningen av bälte ökar ofta med stigande ålder, liksom

ickeanvändningen av särskild skyddsutrustning. Det finns en skillnad mellan

länderna beträffande vilka barn, beroende på ålder och ibland vikt och/eller

längd, som omfattas av lagar om bälten och särskilda skyddsutrustningar,

vilket gör det svårt att jämföra de olika länderna. Felanvändning av

skyddsutrustning är ytterligare ett problem. Det kan innebära både att barnet

sitter i fel skydd för sin ålder eller vikt eller att utrustningen använts på

fel sätt, till exempel att bältet inte är tillräckligt sträckt. I den lästa

litteraturen visas på skillnader i användning och felanvändning av

skyddsutrustning beroende på socioekonomisk bakgrund. Ickeanvändning och

felanvändning är vanligare bland de barn vars föräldrar har en låg utbildning

jämfört med barn till föräldrar med hög utbildning. Likaså är

ickeanvändningen och felanvändningen av barnens skyddsutrustning lägre i

hushåll med en högre inkomst jämfört med hushåll med lägre inkomst. Detta

stöds ytterligare av det faktum att föräldrar som inte använder

skyddsutrustning till sina barn lägger större vikt på kostnaden för att

använda skyddsutrustningar till sina barn än föräldrar vars barn är skyddade.

Barn som reser på landsväg är skyddade i större utsträckning än de som färdas

i tätort. I flera undersökningar finns resultat som tyder på en större

ickeanvändning och större felanvändning i folkgrupper med utländsk bakgrund

eller där språket är ett annat än landets officiella språk. I en amerikansk

studie omfattande alla delstater framkommer att det finns skillnader mellan

delstaterna i användning av skyddsanordning för barn 5-14 år. Dessa

skillnader antas bero på hur lagarna är utformade i de olika delstaterna.

Cycling on the pavement is commonly seen in urban environments despite often being prohibited. This study explores this practice by analysing cycling on pavements in the wider socio-technical context in which it occurs. Using data from two field studies and one questionnaire study, as well as applying a Social Practice Theory (SPT) based analytical approach, the study explores the frequency of cycling on the pavement. The results show that riding on the pavement is common among cyclists. Three main configurations of meaning, material and competence constitutes this practice which is summarised as follows: avoiding the space of the car, increasing smoothness of the ride and unclear infrastructure design. Cycling on the pavement can be regarded as a way of managing safety and risk, seeking more efficient and comfortable paths of travel, as well as the outcome of perceiving the infrastructure as ambiguous. Overall, the study argues that cycling on the pavement is a consequence of skewed power relations between different modes of transport, as well as policies, urban planning and infrastructure not harmonising with demands for safe and smooth travel by cyclists.

In order to get a view on the road surface condition the Swedish Road Administration (SRA) uses both objective measurement mehods, mainly measurements of rut depth and unevenness, and road users, opinions on the roads condition. Objective measurements show that road surface condition in general has not changed to any greater extent during the latest years. Road user surveys show, however, that the road users, and not least the professional drivers, have become less satisfied with the operation and maintenace of the roads. To try to understand the cause of this discrepancy it is of interest to closer analyse the road users assessment of road surface condition. The report presents a driving simulator study, which is divided into two experiments. In the first experiment the importance of different impressions, i.e. visual appearance, noise and vibrations, is tested on a road surface with ruts as well as on a road surface with patchings/repairs. The analysis was based on driving data and on the drivers´ opinions on how comfortable and safe, respectively, the road was to drive on. The conclusion from the first experiment was that the visual apppearence alone does not influence speed, but lateral position. Noise has an influence on the variance of speed, and vibration has an influence on the variance of lateral position. Noise and vibration have an influence on speed in interaction with the visual appearance. The results of the drivers´ assessments of comfort and safety show a clear pattern where the visual appearance, the sound and the vibrations separately and in an additional way have an influence on the subjective experience of comfort and safety. In the second experiment eight road surfaces with different road surface conditions (patches, ruts, ruts filled with water, rough texture, unnevenness (two levels), cracks and edge deformations). The eight road surfaces grouped together in three different groups concerning the assessment of comfort and of safety, though not in the exact same way.

The euroFOT project is undertaking Field Operational Tests to investigate the effects of eight safety functions. More than 1500 drivers of cars and trucks will participate with the focus being not only on the use of the systems under daily traffic conditions but also their impact on traffic safety, efficiency and environment.

In order to do this, a methodology had to be developed that balanced rigorous experimental methods with the practicalities of running a field trial. This paper describes how the methodology for undertaking comparative analysis between the functions was developed, drawing on the FESTA guidelines.

The study consists of four separate experiments conducted in the VTI driving

simulator. The common theme was to investigate how driver behaviour and

traffic safety are influenced when the driver attends to another technical

device while driving. The experiments were concerned with handsfree or

handheld mobile phone conversation and dialling, receiving mobile phone SMS

messages and watching a DVD film (the latter two being minor pilot

experiments). In three of the experiments (mobile phone conversation, SMS,

DVD) the participants drove a route which led through urban and rural

environments, ranging from 90 km/h rural to 50 km/h urban environments. The

urban environments differed in complexity (three levels). The driving

distance was about 70 km. The dialling experiment used a rural environment

with a speed limit of 110 km/h. The driving distance was about 15 km. In the

main experiment dealing with mobile phone conversation, a number of driving

performance measures were analysed: driving speed, variation in lateral

position, deceleration, brake reaction time, headway, time to collision, etc.

PDT (Peripheral Detection Task) was used as a measure of mental workload.

Mobile phone conversation was found demanding in terms of mental workload. It

also had effects on driving. Most effects were quite similar for the two

phone modes (handsfree, handheld). Impaired reaction time performance was

demonstrated in one of the situations for handheld mode. However, effects

were found which could be interpreted as attempts to compensate for the

increased workload caused by the mobile phone conversation: speed was reduced

(more so for handheld than for handsfree mode), and time and distance headway

increased. In spite of these compensatory behaviours, mental workload was

still markedly increased by phone use. In the SMS experiment the participants

braked later in one situation when reading the SMS message. No other effects

were found in this minor experiment. In the DVD experiment, mental workload

increased when watching the film, although this was compensated for to some

extent by the increased distance headway to a lead vehicle. No compensation

in terms of reduced driving speed, however, was apparent in this experiment.

In the dialling experiment negative effects on traffic safety were evident

from the larger variance of lateral car position during the dialling task for

the handsfree phone mode. The mental workload also increased with the

dialling task. Compensation in terms of reduced driving speed was apparent

for both phone modes. Other aspects of mobile phone use while driving still

remain to be analysed in more detail, such as starting or finishing a call,

looking for a phone number to dial, mishaps like dropping the phone, etc.

Driver distraction has been defined in many different ways. The most important difference is whether only visual inattention or also cognitive inattention should be included. Many different methods have been used to assess the prevalence and types of driver distraction that occur, and to describe the consequences in terms of driving performance and crash involvement. There is strong agreement that distraction is detrimental for driving, and that the risk for crashes increases. Drivers rather opt for repeated glances instead of extending one single glance, if the secondary task demands attention for a longer period of time. However, repeated glances have more detrimental effects on driving performance than a single glance of the same duration as one of the repeated glances. Only recently the method of remote eye tracking has emerged, which enables real time identification of visual distraction. So far this method has mostly been used in driving simulators. Different algorithms that diagnose distracted drivers have been tested with promising results. In simulators it is difficult, however, to induce true distraction, due to the short duration of the experiment and the artificial setting. A prolonged field study under naturalistic conditions could provide new insights and validation of simulator studies.

A driving simulator study was conducted with the goal to find the human machine interface with the highest potential to increase traffic safety. Different aspects of how driving behaviour was influenced were investigated. Low friction warnings were given several seconds in advance of the occurrence of low friction conditions. A display that advised drivers about a recommended maximum speed on low friction conditions led to higher speed reductions than a display of the stopping distance or a low friction warning symbol. Generally women displayed more careful behaviour than men did (less speeding, less curve cutting, longer overall travel time).

The main aim of the simulator study in INTRO WP 2.3 was to investigate how a low friction warning system in vehicles would influence traffic safety, and to identify the interface with the highest potential to increase traffic safety in low friction conditions. The stopping distance model which was determined in other tasks within WP 2 was used as a base for the low friction warnings in the present task.

Even though often travelling on the same roads, it has been shown that cyclists and car drivers interpret their environment differently, which can lead to misunderstandings and collisions. Based on the Minimum Required Attention (MiRA) theory and the Salience, Effort, Expectancy, Value (SEEV) model, it is investigated whether the attentional requirements put on drivers and cyclists are different in urban intersections, and how difficult it is to fulfil the requirements for the two road user groups. Additionally, glance data from 23 participants who both cycled and drove along an urban route are compared with respect to information sampling strategies and the fulfilment of attentional requirements depending on its type for three intersections. Generally, more attentional requirements existed for cyclists, and due to where they occur relative to the infrastructure, in combination with the physical aspects of cycling, they are less likely to be fulfilled. This was also corroborated by the empirical data, which showed that requirements clearly visible from the infrastructural design are fulfilled more often than those that are not. Overall, the theoretical evaluation of the infrastructure was confirmed by the empirical data, such that the proposed method can be used as a starting point for a theoretical, human centred evaluation of traffic infrastructure.

It is very common to compare mean values of driving performance indicators (PI) like mean speed, the standard deviation of lateral position, time headway, mean glance duration, and many more, in order to investigate possible differences between different treatment groups. Just like all the PIs mentioned here, most of them describe aspects of the control level of driving behaviour according to Michon’s control hierarchy. When means differ significantly between treatment groups, this is often interpreted in relation to traffic safety gains or losses.

In this paper we are going to discuss possible pitfalls with the use and interpretation of such performance indicators, based on examples from studies carried out in driving simulator and in the field. Finally, we suggest a number of possible solutions to avoid some of the issues discussed here.

Driver attention is often assessed via glance behaviour, typically by measuring glances away from the forward roadway or by directly measuring glances to non-driving related targets. This approach can be used to detect distracting events, but it does not check whether all situationally relevant targets are sampled. Here, we evaluate the usefulness of the MiRA-theory as basis for attention assessment. A field study was conducted with 23 participants driving an instrumented vehicle on an urban route. The participants wore a head-mounted eye tracker. Data reduction included the identification of target areas that needed to be sampled, whether they were sampled or not, and whether relevant or irrelevant other traffic was present. Additionally, a gaze-by-gaze analysis identified gaze direction, purpose, and target. As predicted, drivers sampled all required target areas that necessitated a glance away from forward. Target areas roughly in the forward direction, like zebra crossings, were probably sampled with peripheral vision, but this could not be reliably confirmed with the equipment used. The glance direction distribution was found to correspond well to the a- priori-defined requirements. A higher number of parallel requirements induced a larger share of glances with the purpose to check for traffic. Relevant traffic was monitored more than irrelevant traffic. A higher number of parallel requirements was associated with reduced spare visual capacity. Nominal glance target identification was less linked to the requirements. We therefore recommend that “traditional” glance-based attention assessment should be complemented with a purpose-based glance assessment protocol coupled with situation dependent pre-defined requirements.

The ability to assess the current attentional state of the driver is important for many aspects of driving, not least in the field of automation. Knowledge about the driver’s attentional state is necessary for the assessment of the effects of additional tasks on attention, and for the transfer of control between vehicle and driver. Therefore, different methods that can be used to assess attention, were evaluated theoretically and then empirically in a controlled field study and in the laboratory.

Six driving instructors participated in all experimental conditions of the study, delivering within-subjects data for all tested methods. Additional participants were recruited for some of the conditions. The test route consisted of 14 km of motorway with low to moderate traffic, which was driven three times per participant per condition. The on-road conditions were: baseline, driving with eye tracking and self-paced visual occlusion, and driving while thinking aloud. The laboratory conditions were: Describing how attention should be distributed on a motorway, giving a written percentage distribution for a motorway situation, and thinking aloud while watching a video from the baseline drive. For the analysis the on-road data were split into manoeuvres. Attention was distributed differently depending on manoeuvre type, which was evident from both eye tracking, occlusion, the think aloud protocol and the lab-based methods, therefore it is recommended to consider the type of manoeuvre when making attention assessments. The visual occlusion method is a valuable tool to assess spare visual capacity. Especially in combination with eye tracking, and in comparison with “baseline” driving it shows which glances are experienced as containing necessary information, and which glances are “spare” glances. The think aloud method is a meaningful tool to approach the driver’s actual mental representation of the situation at hand. However, this method should be used with caution, as talking about one’s attentional distribution in fact changes one’s glance behaviour in comparison to baseline driving. Expert judgements in the laboratory did not turn out to be a reliable and useful method for the assessment of drivers’ attentional distribution in traffic. This may be due to difficulties in verbally accessing procedural knowledge.

For successful attention assessment in a dynamic traffic situation it is important to have access to information about the manoeuvres made by the driver in relation to other vehicles on the road. Also, knowledge about the road layout, speed limit etc. should be incorporated into the assessment. All this requires a rather advanced instrumentation of the experimental vehicle. In addition, data reduction, analysis and interpretation are demanding. To summarise, driver attention assessment in real traffic is a complex task, but a triangulation of visual occlusion, eye tracking and thinking aloud is a promising combination of methods to come further on the way.

The ability to assess the current attentional state of the driver is important for many aspects of driving, not least in the field of partial automation for transfer of control between vehicle and driver. Knowledge about the driver's attentional state is also necessary for the assessment of the effects of additional tasks on attention. The objective of this paper is to evaluate different methods that can be used to assess attention, first theoretically, and then empirically in a controlled field study and in the laboratory.

Six driving instructors participated in all experimental conditions of the study, delivering within-subjects data for all tested methods. Additional participants were recruited for some of the conditions. The test route consisted of 14. km of motorway with low to moderate traffic, which was driven three times per participant per condition. The on-road conditions were: baseline, driving with eye tracking and self-paced visual occlusion, and driving while thinking aloud. The laboratory conditions were: Describing how attention should be distributed on a motorway, and thinking aloud while watching a video from the baseline drive.

The results show that visual occlusion, especially in combination with eye tracking, was appropriate for assessing spare capacity. The think aloud protocol was appropriate to gain insight about the driver's actual mental representation of the situation at hand. Expert judgement in the laboratory was not reliable for the assessment of drivers' attentional distribution in traffic. Across all assessment techniques, it is evident that meaningful assessment of attention in a dynamic traffic situation can only be achieved when the infrastructure layout, surrounding road users, and intended manoeuvres are taken into account. This requires advanced instrumentation of the vehicle, and subsequent data reduction, analysis and interpretation are demanding. In conclusion, driver attention assessment in real traffic is a complex task, but a combination of visual occlusion, eye tracking and thinking aloud is a promising combination of methods to come further on the way. .

The empirical methods eye tracking while driving, visual occlusion while driving, think aloud while driving, expert judgement in the laboratory and think aloud while watching video are evaluated for their usefulness to assess driver attention in real traffic. Using a within-subjects design, six driving instructors drove three 14-kilometre-laps on a motorway per driving condition. Additional participants took part in sub-sets of the conditions. The methods were evaluated both with respect to practical implications and to the results that could be obtained with them. Glance behaviour and self-paced visual occlusion varied between different manoeuvre types (lane change – two directions, driving in left or right lane) and also between drivers. For the assessment of the attentional requirements of different traffic situations it is recommended to identify “situational prototypes” and related manoeuvres. The attention assessment should then be made with eye tracking in combination with visual occlusion, complemented with the think aloud technique. It is important to consider inter-individual variations in the process of identifying general attentional requirements for a prototypical situation/manoeuvre combination. Information about surrounding traffic needs to be obtained for a correct assessment. Preliminary results indicate that it is important to adopt a manoeuvre-oriented view, for example when identifying visual targets, instead of using a static gaze target classification scheme.

Driver distraction is a contributing factor to many crashes and a real-time distraction warning system has the potential to mitigate or circumvent many of these crashes. The objective of this paper is to thoroughly describe the distraction detection algorithm AttenD and explain the theory underlying different design choices. Future aspects and distraction warning strategies will be discussed as well.

In summary, AttenD is an eye-tracker based distraction detection algorithm which identifies visual distraction in real-time based on single long glances as well as repetitive glances. The core idea of the algorithm is a 2-second time buffer which is decremented when the driver looks away from the road and incremented when the driver looks back at the road. If the buffer runs empty, the driver’s state is classified as distracted.

Objective: To propose a driver attention theory based on the notion of driving as a satisficing and partially self-paced task and, within this framework, present a definition for driver inattention.

Background: Many definitions of driver inattention and distraction have been proposed, but they are difficult to operationalize, and they are either unreasonably strict and inflexible or suffer from hindsight bias.

Method: Existing definitions of driver distraction are reviewed and their shortcomings identified. We then present the minimum required attention (MiRA) theory to overcome these shortcomings. Suggestions on how to operationalize MiRA are also presented.

Results: MiRA describes which role the attention of the driver plays in the shared "situation awareness of the traffic system." A driver is considered attentive when sampling sufficient information to meet the demands of the system, namely, that he or she fulfills the preconditions to be able to form and maintain a good enough mental representation of the situation. A driver should only be considered inattentive when information sampling is not sufficient, regardless of whether the driver is concurrently executing an additional task or not.

Conclusions: The MiRA theory builds on well-established driver attention theories. It goes beyond available driver distraction definitions by first defining what a driver needs to be attentive to, being free from hindsight bias, and allowing the driver to adapt to the current demands of the traffic situation through satisficing and self-pacing. MiRA has the potential to provide the stepping stone for unbiased and operationalizable inattention detection and classification.

Behavioral variables are often used as performance indicators (PIs) of visual or internal distraction induced by secondary tasks. The objective of this study is to investigate whether visual distraction can be predicted by driving performance PIs in a naturalistic setting. Visual distraction is here defined by a gaze based real-time distraction detection algorithm called AttenD. Seven drivers used an instrumented vehicle for one month each in a small scale field operational test. For each of the visual distraction events detected by AttenD, seven PIs such as steering wheel reversal rate and throttle hold were calculated. Corresponding data were also calculated for time periods during which the drivers were classified as attentive.

For each PI, means between distracted and attentive states were calculated using t-tests for different time-window sizes (2 - 40 s), and the window width with the smallest resulting p-value was selected as optimal. Based on the optimized PIs, logistic regression was used to predict whether the drivers were attentive or distracted. The logistic regression resulted in predictions which were 76 % correct (sensitivity = 77 % and specificity = 76 %).

The conclusion is that there is a relationship between behavioral variables and visual distraction, but the relationship is not strong enough to accurately predict visual driver distraction. Instead, behavioral PIs are probably best suited as complementary to eye tracking based algorithms in order to make them more accurate and robust.

The crash risk in tunnels is lower than on the open road network, but the consequences of a crash are often severe. Proper tunnel design is one measure to reduce the likelihood of crashes, and the objective of this work is to investigate how driving performance is influenced by design factors, and whether there is an interaction with secondary task load. Twenty-eight drivers participated in the simulator study. A full factorial within subject design was used to investigate the tunnel wall colour (dark or light-coloured walls), illumination (three different levels) and task load (with or without a visual secondary task). The results show that tunnel design and illumination have some influence on the drivers’ behaviour, but visual attention given to the driving task is the most crucial factor, giving rise to significant changes in both driving behaviour and visual behaviour. The results also indicate that light-coloured tunnel walls are more important than strong illumination to keep the drivers’ visual attention focused forward.

One of the more hazardous situations for a bicyclist is to go straight on in an intersection where a motor vehicle is turning right, and especially so when heavy vehicles are involved. The aim of this study was to investigate truck drivers’ speed choice, gaze behaviour and interaction strategies in relation to vulnerable road users (VRU) when turning right in signalised and non-signalised intersections. Truck drivers experienced (n = 14) or inexperienced (n = 15) with urban traffic drove a 15 km long test route in an urban environment. To guarantee the presence of VRUs, a confederate cyclist with the task to cycle straight on was present in three intersections. Overall, the results suggest that the specific experience of driving a truck in the city has little effect on the strategies employed when interacting with cyclists in a right turn scenario. Neither gaze nor strategic placement or speed related variables differed significantly between the groups, though the drivers inexperienced with urban traffic tended to be more cautious. Glance and driving behaviour were more related to the preconditions afforded by the infrastructure and to interaction type, which is a combination of those infrastructural preconditions and the truck driver's own choice of action. The likelihood of a favourable interaction should be increased, where the truck remains behind the VRUs on the approach to the intersection, something which eliminates the potential for a collision. Education of truck drivers, infrastructure design and improved traffic light sequences are potential ways to reduce the occurrence of more demanding and dangerous interaction types.

This report outlines possible means to reduce the dangerous usage of mobile phones and other communication devices while driving. An important aspect of this commission was to demonstrate alternatives to legislation. The suggested countermeasures cover several areas. One is technical solutions, including countermeasures directed towards the infrastructure, the vehicle and the communication device. Another area includes education and information and describes different ways to increase knowledge and understanding. Furthermore, there are different possibilities for how society can influence the behaviour of individuals, both via bans, recommendations and incentives. The usage of communication devices while driving has both advantages and disadvantages. How to deal with device usage is a complex problem, and it is unlikely that one single countermeasure can provide a complete solution. One countermeasure may even depend on the implementation of others. The exact effect of most countermeasures is hard to predict, and possible side effects may occur. It is therefore necessary to be pragmatic, meaning that countermeasures whose advantages outweigh their disadvantages should be implemented. Also, different countermeasures can reinforce each other which may attenuate negative side effects. It is our opinion that a combination of different countermeasures – which educate and inform the driver while at the same time support him or her in a safe usage of communication devices – is preferable to a law against communication device usage while driving. Continuous follow-ups are necessary to ensure the outcome of implemented countermeasures.