Modelling braking behaviour of distracted young drivers in car-following interactions: a grouped random parameters duration model with heterogeneity-in-means

Braking is an important characteristic of driving behaviour that has a direct relationship with rear-end collisions in a car-following task. Braking becomes more crucial when drivers’ cognitive workload increases because of using mobile phones whilst driving. This study, therefore, investigates and compares the effects of using mobile phones whilst driving on braking behaviour. Thirty-two young licenced drivers, evenly split by gender, faced a safety–critical event, that is, leader's hard braking, in a car-following situation. Each participant drove the CARRS-Q Advanced Driving Simulator and was required to respond to a braking event in the simulated environment in three phone conditions: baseline (no phone conversation), handheld, and hands-free. A random parameters duration modelling approach is employed to (i) model drivers’ braking (or deceleration) times using a parametric survival model, (ii) capture unobserved heterogeneity associated with braking times, and (iii) account for repeated experiment design. The model identifies the handheld phone condition as a random parameter whilst vehicle dynamics variables, hands-free phone condition, and driver-specific variables are found as fixed parameters. The model suggests that most distracted drivers (in the handheld condition) reduce their initial speeds more slowly than undistracted drivers, reflecting their delayed initial braking that may lead to abrupt braking to avoid a rear-end collision. Further, another group of distracted drivers exhibits faster braking (in the handheld condition), recognising the risk associated with mobile phone usage and delayed initial braking. Provisional licence holders are found to be slower in reducing their initial speeds than open licence holders, indicating their risk-taking behaviour because of their less experience and more sensitivity to mobile phone distraction. Overall, mobile phone distraction appears to impair the braking behaviour of young drivers, which poses significant safety concerns for traffic streams.