To text or not to text – drivers' interpretation of traffic situations as the basis for their decision to (not) engage in text messaging

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To text or not to text – drivers' interpretation of traffic situations as the basis for their decision to (not) engage in text messaging

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Petzoldt, Tibor / Schleinitz, Katja

Texting while driving is more prevalent than ever. Still, at the same time, drivers seem to consciously select and reject certain traffic situations as appropriate for texting. However, it is unclear which situational characteristics drivers consider when making this decision. The aim of this study was to get a better understanding of drivers' reasoning when deciding to (not) text, focusing on their interpretation of the traffic context. Forty-one drivers were confronted with 43 short video sequences showing different traffic situations from a driver's perspective. They were asked to indicate whether they would be willing to text in the presented situation and provide information regarding the situational characteristics that played a role in their decision. While the level of agreement between participants was high for certain situations (e.g. nearly all were willing to text when stopped at a red light), there was a considerable number of scenarios for which opinion was split, hinting at clear differences in the subjective assessment of these situations. Participants' explanations for their decision to text, as uncovered by qualitative content analysis, mainly referred to aspects that might indicate low attentional demand, low handling demand, as well the idea that there would be some margin for error.