An Informatics Approach to Preventing Distracted Driving

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant The goal of the project is to prevent young drivers from texting while driving An improved technological intervention and a new distribution model for that intervention are proposed In more than people died in crashes that were reported to involve a distracted driver and about people were injured Among those killed or injured in these crashes nearly deaths and injuries included cellphone use as the major distraction The CDC reports in a national survey that of U S drivers ages reported texting or e mailing while driving at least once in the last days and more than a quarter report texting or e mailing andquot regularlyandquot or andquot fairly oftenandquot while driving Th proportion of drivers reportedly distracted at the time of a fatal crash has increased from percent in to percent in Many states are enacting laws to curb texting and cellphone use while driving however the continued prevalence of this activity even where it is illegal illustrates the need for a technological solution Technological solutions in the form of hardware or software that block texting interlocks exist but are not widely utilized Hardware technologies require vehicle modifications which limits their appeal Almost all software technologies rely on GPS to provide vehicle velocity information as an interlock criterion Texting is disabled when the phone is moving at more than MPH for example Unfortunately this sensing modality cannot distinguish whether or not the smartphone is being used by a driver or passenger and therefore disables texting for all passengers in any vehicle under travel including public buses school buses trains passengers in a car etc We propose a better software solution that can distinguish drivers from non drivers and a new technology distribution strategy that will more effectively engage parents to use the solution PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE The societal benefit of the proposed technology is that it will change the behavior of drivers and ultimately reduce the number of distracted drivers Distracted drivers kill more than people and seriously injure almost more annually in the U S alone