title: Preventing distracted driving among college students: Addressing smartphone use.
abstract: Based on the National Highway Traffic Safety Association's (NHTSA) Report, fatalities due to distracted driving are on the rise and the highest proportion of fatalities by age group is the 20-29 year old category. To date little has been done to educate college students about the dangers of distracted driving and engage these students in promoting a safe driving culture. Intervening among college students has the potential for making real-time behavior change, can foster a lifetime of safe driving habits among these students, and can help contribute to a culture of safe driving that can be created and sustained through positive messages from peers. The goals of this study were to develop, implement and evaluate a distracted driving presentation for college students to change knowledge, attitude and behavior on distracted driving. A 30-min, multi-media presentation on distracted driving was presented to 19 colleges and universities, totaling 444 college students (mean age 23.7±7.0 years of age, 61% females, 39% males). Students completed three surveys: prior to the workshop (interview 1), immediately after the workshop (interview 2), and 3 months following the workshop (interview 3). We assessed changes between interview 1 and interview 2 and found 15 of the 15 attitude-knowledge based questions significantly improved after the course. In addition, we assessed changes from interviews 1 and 3, and found 11 of the 15 attitude-knowledge based questions maintained their significance. Responses to behavior related questions at three months were also compared to baseline, and significant improvements were found for 12 of the 14 questions. While this study was successful in improving the short-term attitude-knowledge and behaviors on distracted driving, work is needed to sustain (and evaluate) long-term effects.
authors.affiliation: Shriners Hospitals for Children, Chicago, IL, United States, United States. Electronic address: shassani@shrinenet.org.
authors.forename: Sahar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hassani
authors.affiliation: Shriners Hospitals for Children, Chicago, IL, United States, United States; American Academy of Pediatrics, Elk Grove Village, IL, United States, United States.
authors.forename: Erin H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.affiliation: StopDistractions.org, River Forest, IL, United States, United States.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Shriners Hospitals for Children, Chicago, IL, United States, United States; Governors State University, University Park, IL, United States, United States.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thorpe
authors.affiliation: Shriners Hospitals for Children, Chicago, IL, United States, United States.
authors.forename: Fatima H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Sozzer
authors.affiliation: University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, United States, United States.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Atchley
authors.affiliation: Shriners Hospitals for Children, Houston, TX, United States, United States.
authors.forename: Elroy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.affiliation: Shriners Hospitals for Children, Chicago, IL, United States, United States; Larson Performance Consulting, LLC, United States, United States.
authors.forename: Dean
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.affiliation: Shriners Hospitals for Children, Chicago, IL, United States, United States; Rush University, Chicago, IL, United States, United States; Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, United States, United States.
authors.forename: Lawrence C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Vogel
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000071826:Distracted Driving / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012309:Risk-Taking; D000068997:Smartphone / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Collge students; Distracted driving; Prevention; Smartphones; Workshop