Effects of Different
Driving Distractions on
High School Students
Juliana Lamond
Problem/ Question
Driving distractions recently joined alcohol
and speeding as one of the leading factors in
fatal and serious injury crashes.
How will a high school students reaction time
be affected with different driving distractions
such as a conversation, texting, and visual
distractions?
Background Information
• Longer reaction time is the outcome of
the brain switching focus, or multitasking
• It is not possible for people to perform 2
tasks will full concentration and
effectiveness concurrently
• There is a capacity limit to the brain
• Driving distractions are usually the cause
of driving mistakes
Why was I interested?
• I have my driver’s permit
• Hopefully getting license soon
• To protect my family, friends, others, and
myself
Hypothesis
A high school student’s reaction time will be
affected by various distractions such as having
a conversation, texting, or having a visual
distraction. The most distracting would likely
involve more, multiple areas of the brain
compared to the reaction test: texting,
followed by having a conversation, and finally,
visual distractions.
Online Reaction Time Test Used
http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime/index.php
Procedure
1) Quiet room with a computer was found
2) 28 high school girls were randomly placed in
4 groups of 7 (girls were tested singularly)
3) Control Group
a) Standard instructions were given about the
online reaction time test and subject was
told to begin
b) Result was recorded
Procedure Continued
4) Conversation Distraction Group
a) Standard instructions
b) Subject was told she would be asked
simple consecutive questions concurrently
with the time test (same questions were
used for each subject)
c) Subject was told to begin the reaction test
d) Result was recorded
Procedure Continued
5) Visual Distraction Group
a) Standard instructions
b) Subject was told she would have to study a
picture that the researcher would put on the
wall concurrently with the test
c) Subject was told to begin the reaction test
d) Result was taken
Procedure Continued
6) Texting Distraction Group
a) Standard instructions
b) Subject was told to memorize the sentence, ‘the
quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’
c) Paper with the sentence on it was placed next to
her in case she forgot
d) Subject was told to take out her cell phone and text
the sentence as fast as she could while taking the test
e) Subject was told to begin
f) Result was recorded
Variables
• Constants
•
•
•
•
Room
Computer
Website
Standard directions
• Independent
• Type of distraction
• Additional instructions for each distraction
• Dependent
• Reaction times
Averages of Reaction Times with Different
Distractions
Texting Group
Visual Group
milliseconds
Conversation Group
Control Group
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
T-Test
Groups
Control and Conversation
Control and Visual
Control and Texting
Conversation and Visual
P-Value
0.0003
0.007
0.0001
0.5
Uncontrollable Variables
• Inability to gather subjects, so the subject pool was
reduced
• Confusion to directions
• All girls- might have been a difference if boys were
included
• Natural variation in reaction times
Further Studies
•Include high school boys
•Larger sample sizes
•More distractions tested
Conclusion
• Texting is most distracting, followed by visual
distractions and conversations, and finally no
distractions
• Error bars based on standard deviation and
the T-Test reveal that conversations and visual
distractions are not scientifically significant
from each other
• Therefore, the hypothesis was partially
supported
Conclusion Continued
• Best thing to do while driving is to have as few
distractions as possible
• Possible to save yourself and others from car
crashes by focusing on just driving
Works Cited
• California Department of Motor Vehicles (2008). Driver Distractions.
Retrieved from
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffdl28.htm
• National Safety Council (2010). Understanding the Distracted Brain.
Retrieved from
http://www.fnal.gov/pub/traffic_safety/files/NSC%20White%20Paper%20
-%20Distracted%20Driving%203-10.pdf
• Dux, Ivanoff, Asplund, and Marios (2006). Isolation of a Central Bottleneck
of Information Processing with Time-Resolved fMRI. Retrieved from
http://www.psy.vanderbilt.edu/faculty/marois/Publications/Dux_et_al2006.pdf
• U.S. Department of Transportation (2010). Research. Retrieved from
http://www.distraction.gov/research
• Whipps (2010). Study Reveals Why We Get Distracted so Easily. Retrieved
from http://www.livescience.com/health/070329_brain_regions.html
• Human Benchmark (2010). Reaction Time Test. Retrieved from
http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime/index.php