Highlights Distracting events inside or outside the vehicle and distraction due to driver were associated with being at fault. These distraction-related factors accounted for 8% of injurious road crashes. Diverted attention may carry more risk than expected.

    Abstract Background Use of cellular phones has been shown to be associated with crashes but many external distractions remain to be studied. Objective To assess the risk associated with diversion of attention due to unexpected events or secondary tasks at the wheel. Design Responsibility case–control study. Setting Adult emergency department of the Bordeaux University Hospital (France) from April 2010 to August 2011. Participants 955 injured drivers presenting as a result of motor vehicle crash. Main outcome measures The main outcome variable was responsibility for the crash. Exposures were external distraction, alcohol use, psychotropic medicine use, and sleep deprivation. Potential confounders were sociodemographic and crash characteristics. Results Beyond classical risk factor found to be associated with responsibility, results showed that distracting events inside the vehicle (picking up an object), distraction due to driver activity (smoking) and distracting events occurring outside were associated with an increased probability of being at fault. These distraction-related factors accounted for 8% of injurious road crashes. Limitations Retrospective responsibility self-assessment. Conclusions Diverted attention may carry more risk than expected. Our results are supporting recent research efforts to detect periods of driving vulnerability related to inattention.


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    Title :

    Distraction and driving: Results from a case–control responsibility study of traffic crash injured drivers interviewed at the emergency room



    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2013-06-03


    Size :

    5 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English