Assessment of driver distraction caused by social networking activities using the smartphone: a driving simulator study

The use of the mobile phone is one of the main contributors to driver distrac-tion. Extensive scientific literature has addressed the issue of driver distrac-tion, highlighting the negative effects of mobile phone use (i.e., calling or texting) while driving. Currently, only a few studies have investigated the ef-fects of social networking activities while driving. The aim of this study is to assess the effect on driver performances and road safety of mobile phone use for social networking activities using a driving simulator experiment. The da-ta collected are analyzed and compared between the scenarios in terms of driving performances and surrogate safety measures. In addition, further in-formation are collected using pre-test and post-test questionnaires. Prelimi-nary results demonstrates the negative effects of using the smartphone for social networking activities on driving performance and road safety, expos-ing drivers to high levels of risk.