The issue of driver distraction associated with the use of in-vehicle devices in heavy vehicles was explored through interviews with truck drivers and safety regulators. In order to characterize some of the interface designs and better understand their interaction demands, a sample of commercially available in-vehicle devices was examined. The extent to which these devices conformed to available human factors guidelines and accepted practices was assessed analytically. Industry device design and evaluation practices were also explored via contacts with equipment suppliers and industry Original Equipment Manufactures. Truck driver distraction is perceived by many drivers and safety regulators to be a problem, although it is not generally viewed as a high priority issue. Fleet-based communication devices, which include text-based messaging functions, are widely available and used by the industry. These devices can potentially impose high levels of attentional demand if used while driving since they require numerous inputs and multi-line text displays which have been shown to impair driving performance. Manufacturers of these types of systems tend to provide the capability to restrict driver interactions with these systems while driving (e.g., lock-out the ability to read or send text messages); our interactions with drivers in our sample suggests that many organizations do not necessarily elect to fully implement these restrictions, and there is no uniformly adopted practice for dealing with these types of devices. Product developers and OEMs appear to involve drivers in product development and testing (primarily in order to ensure their products conform to the customers needs); however, objective testing to evaluate the attentional demands of devices may not be widely used. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting