The effects of passive mobile phone interaction on situation awareness and driving performance

The present study examines the effects of mobile phone dependency and passive mobile phone interaction on situation awareness and driving performance. A total of 37 participants drove in a fixed-base driving simulator that included rural roads followed by typical city roads with light traffic. As participants were driving, they received an audible text message notification to which they were unable to respond. After receiving the text message, participants' situation awareness was assessed via the situation awareness global assessment technique (SAGAT). SAGAT probes occurred at 30 s and 10 s after the text message was delivered to determine the effect of text message delay on situation awareness. Results indicate that situation awareness is negatively affected for at least 10 s after the text message alert but not longer than 30 s. In addition to lowered situation awareness, participants' mean speed increased during periods of distraction in the 10 s following a mobile phone notification. Low mobile phone dependency did not serve as a protective factor against distraction in that participants were similarly distracted irrespective of dependency level. The implications of passive mobile phone interaction, as well as possible solutions are discussed.