Self-regulation of drivers' mobile phone use: the influence of driving context

Mobile phone use while driving is considered as a major concern for traffic safety. Various studies indicate negative effects of distracted driving and recent Naturalistic Driving studies report substantial increases in crash risk of mobile phone use while driving. The objective of this study was to investigate what mechanism related to self-regulation underlies drivers’ decision to engage in mobile phone activity while driving. This study focussed on the effect of driving context. For this study naturalistic driving data collected in the UDRIVE project was analysed. Dutch drivers spent over 9% of all driving time engaging in mobile phone related tasks. Drivers used their mobile phone significantly less when a passenger was present. Also a significant overrepresentation of visualmanual (VM) tasks initiated during standstill was observed, for the other speed categories significantly less VM tasks than expected were initiated. In addition significantly more time was spend engaged in VM tasks on urban roads than expected. On rural roads and highways significantly less time was spend on VM tasks than expected. The analysis clearly shows indications of drivers’ self-regulatory behaviour.