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Brain & Nervous System468 citations

Cognitive load and detection thresholds in car following situations: safety implications for using mobile (cellular) telephones while driving.

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Lamble D, Kauranen T, Laakso M, Summala H · 1999

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Drivers' detection of a decelerating car was impaired by about 0.5 s in brake reaction time and almost 1 s in time-to-collision during a non-visual task.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Nineteen participants aged 20 to 29 years drove at 80 km/h, 50 m behind a lead car on a 30 km motorway section. The lead car decelerated at 0.47 m/s² while participants either looked ahead, dialed numbers, or performed a memory and addition task. Detection ability was impaired by about 0.5 s in brake reaction time and almost 1 s in time-to-collision during the non-visual task. This impairment was similar to when drivers divided visual attention by dialing numbers.

Why This Matters

The study aimed to investigate drivers' ability to detect a decelerating car while doing mobile phone related tasks. The researchers concluded that neither a hands-free option nor a voice controlled interface removes the safety problems of mobile phone use in a car.

Study Details

This study was aimed at investigating drivers' ability to detect a car ahead decelerating, while doing mobile phone related tasks.

Nineteen participants aged between 20 and 29 years, (2000-125000 km driving experience) drove at 80 ...

The results indicated that drivers' detection ability was impaired by about 0.5 s in terms of brake ...

It was concluded that neither a hands-free option nor a voice controlled interface removes the safety problems associated with the use of mobile phones in a car.

Cite This Study
Lamble D, Kauranen T, Laakso M, Summala H (1999). Cognitive load and detection thresholds in car following situations: safety implications for using mobile (cellular) telephones while driving. Accid Anal Pre 31(6):617-623, 1999.
Show BibTeX
@article{d_1999_cognitive_load_and_detection_2334,
  author = {Lamble D and Kauranen T and Laakso M and Summala H},
  title = {Cognitive load and detection thresholds in car following situations: safety implications for using mobile (cellular) telephones while driving.},
  year = {1999},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10487336/},
}
PubMed: 10487336

Cited By (468 papers)

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Quick Questions About This Study

Nineteen drivers aged 20 to 29 years drove at 80 km/h behind a lead car that decelerated at 0.47 m/s² on a 30 km motorway section.
Detection ability was impaired by about 0.5 s in brake reaction time and almost 1 s in time-to-collision during the non-visual task.
The impairment was similar to when drivers divided visual attention by dialing numbers on a keypad.
They concluded that neither a hands-free option nor a voice controlled interface removes the safety problems associated with mobile phone use in a car.
The study aimed to investigate drivers' ability to detect a car ahead decelerating while doing mobile phone related tasks.