2019 年 18 巻 5 号 p. 371-380
The aim of this study was to reveal the effects of conversation during driving on safety. This study investigated the driving performance and the hazard detection performance in different conversation conditions. The experimental factors were whether a driver conversed with a passenger next to him or her or via cell phone, conversation method (by cell phone or with passenger), hands to control a steering (one handed or two handed), and difficulty of conversation (easy or difficult). The participants were required to simultaneously carry out a simulated driving task and a hazard detection task. The results showed that there was no significant difference of the hazard detection performance (the reaction time and the percentage miss) among the conversation conditions. This indicates that hands-free phone conversation and conversation with a passenger deteriorate the hazard detection performance and impair the driving safety although the current regulation prohibits only hand-held phone conversation.
