Discipline: Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences
Subcategory: STEM Research
Suman Niranjan - Savannah State University
Distracted driving is one of the leading causes of fatalities and accidents on the road. Distraction during driving can occur in many forms such as: inattentiveness as a result of immersive conversation (in-person or on the phone), taking eyes of the road for few seconds for changing settings in the car’s center console or elsewhere, texting during driving, mind wandering as a result of work stress and mental workload, overconfidence, personality factors, planned behavior, cognitive failures etc. The objective of this research is to understand the effect of mind-wandering on distracted driving via conducting an empirical research. Additionally, the indirect effect of mental workload, theory of planned behavior, and perceived over-confidence on distracted driving via mind-wandering. Data is collected from drivers who commute at least on hour every single weekday in large cities (excess of 5 million population). Established scales from existing literature in transportation and psychology is utilized for conducting this study. We believe that an indirect relationship between planned behavior, mental workload, and over-confidence has on distracted driving via mind-wandering. Multivariate statistical analysis using Structural Equation Modeling is conducted to provide deeper understanding of distracted driving.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): HBCU-UP: TIP-ITS
Faculty Advisor: None Listed,