University of Washington

Dr. Linda Ng Boyle presenting at Nathan Hale High School EDUCATING TEENAGE DRIVERS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST REGARDING THE DANGERS OF DISTRACTED DRIVING Research Team: David Hurwitz – OSU (PI) Haizhong Wang – OSU Linda Boyle – UW Ahmed Abdel-Rahim – UI Driver distraction describes the diversion of attention away from the driving task and is of particular concern among teenage drivers who exhibit greater crash risks when compared to drivers in other age groups. The goal of the PacTrans outreach project is to examine teenage driver distraction to identify tasks they consider to be distracting and determine the extent to which they self-report engagement in those tasks while driving. Specifically, the research team developed and administered an interactive demonstration on teenage distracted driving to 1,100 teenage drivers in three states (Oregon, Idaho, & Washington). A pre and post knowledge survey was administered to measure the degree to which the demonstration improved teenage driver's perspective towards the hazards of distracted driving. The preliminary results of pre-post surveys show that student perception regarding what constitutes distracted driving Shane Brown – WSU Ghulam Bham – UAA Improved by 10 to 20 percent due to the intervention of the presentation. The figure below shows and example of the pre and post data collected in Oregon regarding the average responses of 350 teenage drivers including 95% confidence intervals. It was found that teenage drivers perceived the distractions of mobile device related distractions (talking on cell phone, texting, etc.) as much more significant than those related to on board technologies (adjusting climate controls, tuning radio, etc.) Additionally, in an open response question, teenage drivers were asked to describe other distracting activities they engage in beyond the 20 stipulated explicitly in the surveys. They generated a list of an additional 67 activities, such as putting on makeup and changing cloths while driving. Contact: Dr. David Hurwitz Email: david.hurwitz@oregonstate.edu Is the activity a distraction while driving? (OSU) Change climate Tune radio Eat/drink Change CDs Complex Thinking Daydream Talk on phone Read Look for item in bag Dial on phone Use other devices Apply make-up/shave Work on HW Text message 1 2 3 Average Response: 1 = Strongly Disagree / 7 = Strongly Agree 4 5 OSU Post 6 7 OSU Pre 2012-2013 Annual Report 21

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