Towards an effective measurement of driver distraction in real life and in low cost simulation Von der Fakultät für Lebenswissenschaften der Technischen Universität Carolo-Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig zur Erlangung des Grades

The Lane Change Task was developed to provide an objective safety criterion for the assessmentof driver distraction by in-vehicle information systems (IVIS). It consists of two basic driving tasks,namely lane keeping and lane changes. The LCT has been shown to reliably detect distractionfrom driving. As this test becomes increasingly important for the assessment of safety the validity ofthe LCT is crucial. In order to examine this further, the effect of an alcohol intoxication of 0.08 g/dlon the performance in the LCT was examined in the present study as the negative effects of alco-hol on driving are well-known. Twenty-three participants were tested under alcohol and placebo ina cross-over design measuring different performance indicators in the LCT. There were significanteffects of alcohol during the lane keeping phase. However, these were much smaller than thosetypically found with distracting secondary tasks. The lane change phase was only marginally af-fected by alcohol. This result gives rise to some caution for interpreting effects in the LCT. The LCTis well able to detect distraction, as other studies have shown. However, our study with intoxicatedparticipants shows, that a small effect in the LCT does not necessarily mean that this conditiondoes not impair driving.