title: What's the law got to do with it? Legislation regarding in-vehicle technology use and its impact on driver distraction.
abstract: Legislation in the road transport domain aims to control safety on the roads. Despite this, a critical issue affecting road safety is that of driver distraction. Although poorly defined, distraction is a significant road safety issue which, in part, is caused by the prevalence of technology within vehicles. Legislation surrounding the use of in-vehicle technologies are explored in this paper from a socio-technical system perspective. This reveals the wider context of the road transport system operating under the current laws using an Accimap analysis. A distinction in the law between the use of hand-held mobile phones, a device that is typically banned for use by drivers worldwide, and the use of other technological devices that are covered by more general laws against 'careless' and/or 'dangerous' driving was found. Historically, individual drivers' have been blamed for distraction, whereas the systems approach shows how current legislation may have created the conditions necessary for driver distraction.
authors.affiliation: Transportation Research Group, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, Boldrewood Campus, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO16 7QF, UK. Electronic address: kp4g13@soton.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Katie J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Parnell
authors.affiliation: Transportation Research Group, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, Boldrewood Campus, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO16 7QF, UK.
authors.forename: Neville A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Stanton
authors.affiliation: Transportation Research Group, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, Boldrewood Campus, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO16 7QF, UK.
authors.forename: Katherine L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Plant
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000517:prevention & control; D040421:Cell Phone / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D000071826:Distracted Driving / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D012449:Safety / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards
keywords: Accimaps; Driver distraction; In-vehicle technology; Legislation; Systems theory