Texting drivers may believe they’re being more careful when they use the voice-to-text method, but new research findings suggest that those applications offer no real safety advantage over manual texting.

The study was sponsored by the Southwest Region University Transportation Center and conducted by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI). SWUTC is a part of the University Transportation Centers Program, which is a federally-funded program administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration.

The study is the first of its kind, as it is based on the performance of 43 research participants driving an actual vehicle on a closed course. Other research efforts have evaluated manual versus voice-activated tasks using devices installed in a vehicle, but the TTI analysis is the first to compare voice-to-text and manual texting on a handheld device in an actual driving environment.

Drivers first navigated the course without any use of cell phones. Each driver then traveled the course three more times performing a series of texting exercises – once using each of two voice-to-text applications (Siri® for the iPhone and Vlingo® for Android), and once texting manually. Researchers then measured the time it took each driver to complete the tasks, and also noted how long it took for the drivers to respond to a light which came on at random intervals during the exercises.

Major findings from the study included:

• Driver response times were significantly delayed no matter which texting method was used. In each case, drivers took about twice as long to react as they did when they weren’t texting. With slower reaction times, drivers are less able to take action in response to sudden roadway hazards, such as a swerving vehicle or a pedestrian in the street.
• The amount of time that drivers spent looking at the roadway ahead was significantly less when they were texting, no matter which texting method was used.
• For most tasks, manual texting required slightly less time than the voice-to-text method, but driver performance was roughly the same with both.
• Drivers felt less safe when they were texting, but felt safer when using a voice-to-text application than when texting manually, even though driving performance suffered equally with both methods.

Christine Yager, a TTI Associate Transportation Researcher who managed the study, says the findings offer new insight, but only a part of the knowledge that’s needed to improve roadway safety. “Understanding the distracted driving issue is an evolving process, and this study is but one step in that process,” she says. “We believe it’s a useful step, and we’re eager to see what other studies may find.”

The study’s results are being published during National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Numerous agencies, including the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) are sponsoring public awareness campaigns to highlight the dangers of driving distractions, particularly those associated with cell phone use.

Another TTI study now underway is examining the motivations and attitudes of distracted drivers. Results from the focus groups and a 3,000-driver survey are expected in late summer, and will include a look at which demographic groups are most affected by the distracted driving issue.

Additional Resources:

• Voice-to-Text study video
• SWUTC study
• Story on Center for Transportation Safety website

TTI Research Scientist Stacey Bricka presents at the Household Travel Survey Symposium.

The Southwest Region University Transportation Center (SWUTC) Household Travel Survey Symposium: From Tradition to Innovation was held in Dallas Nov. 8 and 9 and attended by more than 70 travel survey professionals from across the United States. Attendees represented an almost equal mix of agency, consultant and academic researchers.

The symposium started with a poster session, featuring research from 22 separate research efforts, followed by an opening session from Michael Morris, executive director of the North Central Texas Council of Governments, and a keynote speech from Dr. Kermit Wies of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. Attendees were encouraged to think outside the box and consider all users of travel survey data as their customers.

Following the opening remarks, discussion groups focused on identifying lessons learned and opportunities to advance methods, sampling approaches and uses of the survey data. Attendees presented their versions of the “travel survey of the future,” incorporating new technologies, known and on the horizon. The symposium also identified what can be implemented now and established a research agenda to move us toward the newly identified survey designs.

“The Travel Survey Symposium was very timely in that our traditional methods of travel survey have relied too heavily on the telephone, which is failing us,” said attendee Lisa Aultman-Hall, a professor with the University of Vermont’s School of Engineering and Transportation Research Center. “But at the same time, technologies such as smart phones and GPS are in widespread use and have great potential for travel data collection.”

Guy Rousseau, travel surveys and transportation model development manager for the Atlanta Regional Commission in Georgia, agrees with Aultman-Hall’s assessment. “The travel survey world is quickly evolving. Posters and presentations, accompanied by break-out sessions, were the ideal forum in which to discuss the latest trends in travel surveys, and share experiences.”

The TTI team that planned and managed the symposium presented findings from the event at several Transportation Research Board (TRB) committee meetings at the 2013 Annual Meeting. The TRB Travel Survey Committee members incorporated several of the research ideas into the research needs process. The research ideas are part of a National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) synthesis statement/idea, will be part of a proposal to the NCHRP quick response program, and will be used to support a full NCHRP problem statement.

“Louisiana State University and the University of New Orleans became a part of SWUTC this year, bringing to the consortium their national leadership in hurricane traffic analysis, evacuation strategies, and  modeling,” says Dock Burke, SWUTC director and Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) research economist. “LSU and UNO offer some high-quality resources in terms of its faculty, students and some of their ongoing programs. We believe the entire Gulf Coast will benefit from this new alliance.”

Burke, who has been the “head coach” of SWUTC for 20 years, has been affiliated with the unique program since its inception in 1988. SWUTC is a part of a national effort to foster university-based, long-term research and education initiatives. Its major goal of attracting and developing students to become first-rate transportation professionals and industry leaders sets it apart from other transportation research programs.

“When you consider our consortium members, we have a critical mass of expertise that can address almost any topic you could conceivably think of in transportation,” Burke adds. “The consortium has long included TTI at Texas A&M, the University of Texas and Texas Southern University; and now the University of New Orleans and LSU have joined us.”

“In his wisdom, Dock told us from the beginning that he wanted to keep us autonomous, that SWUTC would not simply absorb us,” LSU’s Brian Wolshon says. Dr. Wolshon is a national expert on all matters related to emergency evacuation research, and he serves as the director of the Gulf Coast Research Center for Evacuation and Transportation Resiliency.  “TTI is the 800-pound gorilla of university-based transportation research. Dock is heading-up the UTC program with the philosophy that LSU is a vital part of the team that should keep its expertise whole.”

As part of this year’s grant funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation, SWUTC will focus its efforts on projects that improve lives through research. The LSU addition will last through the rest of the year with project work expected to continue through 2013.

“It’s possible that the LSU involvement with SWUTC could continue past this grant period,” Wolshon says. “I hope it does, because I believe our affiliation is a win-win situation.”

For more information, please see the Texas Transportation Researcher article “A New Era: The SWUTC Adds Two New Schools to Consortium.”

Officials with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT’s) Research and Innovative Technology Administration met with the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) and other the SWUTC consortium members on March 21 in College Station, Texas, to officially kick off the grant. TTI leads the consortium that includes Texas A&M University, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas Southern University (TSU), Louisiana State University (LSU) and the University of New Orleans (UNO).

The Southwest Region University Transportation Center consortium includes Texas A&M University, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas Southern University, Louisiana State University and the University of New Orleans.

“One of the things we find particularly energizing is that our consortium has added two schools from Louisiana — LSU and the University of New Orleans,” says SWUTC Director Dock Burke. “These schools offer some very high-quality resources in terms of their faculty, students and some of their ongoing programs, particularly in terms of hurricane evacuation modeling techniques and rebuilding. We believe the entire Gulf Coast will benefit from this new alliance.”

The original alliance has its origins in 1987, when the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act authorized the creation of the USDOT University Transportation Centers (UTC) program. Soon after, transportation centers across the nation began operation at universities in each of the 10 federal regions through a federal grant, with dollar-for-dollar matching funds from nonfederal sources required. The SWUTC was established at The Texas A&M University System in October 1988 and has been continuously headquartered at TTI in College Station on the main Texas A&M University campus.

“When we competed for this grant, we were asked to look at the overall priorities of the national transportation program, and see if we could find within those priorities a place to do our work,” says Burke. “When you consider our consortium members, we have a critical mass of expertise that can address almost any topic you could conceivably think of in transportation. What we are focused on for this upcoming year is funding research proposals in each of the five USDOT-outlined goals to improve safety, competitiveness, sustainability, state of good repair and livability. We are getting good response and have research projects selected and under way, especially at TTI. We hope to have the full research program in place with the remaining members of the consortium by the beginning of the summer.”

In addition to transportation research and technology transfer, the third mission thrust of the SWUTC is to prepare young leaders for future transportation challenges. “When we were originally founded 25 years ago, the transportation industry was losing top-quality engineering graduate students to computer and electrical engineering, which were more attractive and higher-paid professions,” explains Burke. “So we started a scholarship program that’s been very successful nationwide at populating the leadership of the transportation sector with very bright graduates who are alumni of this UTC program.”

Currently, the transportation industry is experiencing a normal attrition of the top leadership in government, education and the private sector. “So now there’s an opportunity to graduate more and better students to take on those responsibilities,” says Burke. “We’re encouraged that what may have been a long-term decline in the transportation workforce sectors is now an opportunity to put our graduates to work in highly responsible positions in the industry.”

One of the enhancements to the SWUTC under the new grant is the establishment of a dissertation research program within Texas A&M’s Zachry Department of Civil Engineering (CE) that competitively select Ph.D. candidates.

“These are going to be research projects that will serve as our Ph.D. students’ dissertations,” explains SWUTC Associate Director Gene Hawkins, also an associate professor in CE. “We have set up a process by which we will evaluate research proposals for these Ph.D. students and competitively select several of them for funding.”

This Issue

The Best & Brightest: Learning in TTI’s Living Laboratory

Volume 48, Number 2
June 2012
Issue Overview

On this page:

• Undergraduate Transportation Scholars Program
• For More Information

“One of the things we find particularly energizing is that our consortium has added two schools from Louisiana — LSU and the University of New Orleans. These schools offer some very high-quality resources in terms of their faculty, students and some of their ongoing programs, particularly in terms of hurricane evacuation modeling techniques and rebuilding. We believe the entire Gulf Coast will benefit from this new alliance.”
Dock Burke, SWUTC director

For more information:

Dock Burke (TTI)
(979) 845-5815
d-burke@tamu.edu
or
Gene Hawkins (CE)
(979) 845-9946
gene.hawkins@tamu.edu

]]> http://tti.tamu.edu/2012/06/01/a-new-era-the-swutc-adds-two-new-schools-to-consortium/feed/ 0 http://tti.tamu.edu/2012/01/20/tti-to-lead-regional-center/ http://tti.tamu.edu/2012/01/20/tti-to-lead-regional-center/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:50:01 +0000 Chris Sasser http://tti.tamu.edu/?p=7465 The Texas Transportation Institute is the recipient of a $3.5 million federal grant that will extend operations of the Southwest Region University Transportation Center (SWUTC) another year. The funding announcement was made this week by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

As a result of the funding, transportation programs at Texas A&M University, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas Southern University, Louisiana State University and The University of New Orleans will address a wide range of vital transportation research and curriculum issues. SWUTC is one of ten regional consortia that are part of a nationwide UTC program that includes a total of 121 universities. In all, $77 million will be awarded for this year’s program, which includes 10 regional UTCs plus 12 Tier 1 centers.

“Winning this grant award is great news for our researchers, faculty members, and students,” says SWUTC Director Dock Burke, who is also a Texas A&M University System Regents Fellow and senior research scientist at TTI. “The one-year funding will allow us to enhance SWUTC’s education, research and technology-transfer efforts that have been so vital in solving transportation-related problems in our region and educating the professional cadre that will lead the transportation sector of the future.” Burke has been involved in SWUTC since its inception in 1988, and has been director since 1992.

The U.S. DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration used a competitive process to select the 22 centers to receive the grant funding. These UTCs will work closely with federal, state and local agencies to solve transportation problems.

“SWUTC has been active in developing a transportation work force to solve some of the transportation issues we face including efficiency, finance, safety, and sustainability,” Burke says. “Also, this new funding will help us attract the very top quality students with scholarships and other educational opportunities to our campuses.”

For more information, visit the SWUTC website.

]]> http://tti.tamu.edu/2012/01/20/tti-to-lead-regional-center/feed/ 0 http://tti.tamu.edu/2011/10/05/new-study-says-texting-doubles-a-driver%e2%80%99s-reaction-time/ http://tti.tamu.edu/2011/10/05/new-study-says-texting-doubles-a-driver%e2%80%99s-reaction-time/#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:19:59 +0000 Chris Sasser http://tti.tamu.edu/?p=6697 Researchers at the Texas Transportation Institute have determined that a driver’s reaction time is doubled when distracted by reading or sending a text message. The study reveals how the texting impairment is even greater than many experts believed, and demonstrates how texting drivers are less able to react to sudden roadway hazards.

The study — the first published work in the U.S. to examine texting while driving in an actual driving environment — consisted of three major steps. First, participants typed a story of their choice (usually a simple fairy tale) and also read and answered questions related to another story, both on their smart phone in a laboratory setting. Each participant then navigated a test-track course involving both an open section and a section lined by construction barrels. Drivers first drove the course without texting, then repeated both lab tasks separately while driving through the course again. Throughout the test-track exercise, each participant’s reaction time to a periodic flashing light was recorded.

Reaction times with no texting activity were typically between one and two seconds. Reaction times while texting, however, were at least three to four seconds. Worse yet, drivers were more than 11 times more likely to miss the flashing light altogether when they were texting. The researchers say that the study findings extend to other driving distractions that involve reading or writing, such as checking e-mail or Facebook.

The study, sponsored by the Southwest Region University Transportation Center, was managed by Christine Yager, an associate transportation researcher in TTI’s Center for Transportation Safety. Forty-two drivers between the ages of 16 and 54 participated in the research.

In addition to the reaction-time element, researchers also measured each driver’s ability to maintain proper lane position and a constant speed. Major findings further documented the impairment of texting when compared to the controlled driving conditions. Drivers were less able to:

• safely maintain their position in the driving lane when they were texting and their swerving was worse in the open sections of the course than in barreled sections.
• maintain a constant speed while texting, tending to slow down in an effort to reduce the demand of the multiple tasks. By slowing down, a driver gains more time to correct for driving errors (such as the tendency to swerve while texting). Speed variance was also greater for texting drivers than for non-texting drivers.

The fact that the study was conducted in an actual driving environment is important, the researchers say. While simulators are useful, the dynamics of an actual vehicle are different, and some driver cues can’t be replicated in a simulator. By using a closed course, researchers can create an environment similar to real-world driving conditions while providing a high degree of safety for the participants.

“Most research on texting and driving has been limited to driving simulators. This study involved participants driving an actual vehicle, “Yager says. “So one of the more important things we know now that we didn’t know before is that response times are even slower than we previously thought.”

The total distance covered by each driver in the study was slightly less than 11 miles. In the interest of safety for both participants and the research staff, researchers minimized the complexity of the driving task, using a straight-line course that contained no hills, traffic or potential conflicts other than the construction zone barrels. Consequently, the driving demands that participants encountered were considerably lower than those they would encounter under real-world conditions.

“It is frightening,” the researchers wrote, “to think of how much more poorly our participants may have performed if the driving conditions were more consistent with routine driving.”

Federal statistics suggest that distracted driving contributes to as much as 20 percent of all fatal crashes, and that cell phones constitute the primary source of driver distraction. Researchers point to two numbers to illustrate the magnitude of the texting while driving problem: an estimated 5 billion text messages are sent each day in the United States, and at least 20 percent of all drivers have admitted to texting while driving.

Read Full Report, View Video

]]> http://tti.tamu.edu/2011/10/05/new-study-says-texting-doubles-a-driver%e2%80%99s-reaction-time/feed/ 0 http://tti.tamu.edu/2010/12/01/learning-by-teaching-developing-transportation-professionals-for-today-and-tomorrow/ http://tti.tamu.edu/2010/12/01/learning-by-teaching-developing-transportation-professionals-for-today-and-tomorrow/#comments Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:48:06 +0000 Chris Sasser http://tti.tamu.edu/?p=996

TTI researchers support and enhance the undergraduate and graduate educational experience by helping prepare students for transportation careers.

A proverb says that by learning you will teach, and by teaching you will learn. In its mission to educate transportation professionals, the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) has certainly learned from its students. What we take away is that together we can improve the transportation industry — a vital part of everyday life that touches every facet of society — and thereby improve life for all of us.

“We’re not just training researchers,” says Tim Lomax, TTI research engineer and associate director for the Southwest Region University Transportation Center (SWUTC). “We’re teaching people to think. We show them how to approach a problem and organize their efforts. Then we show them the tools and procedures they can apply to that problem.”

Workforce development at TTI encompasses a broad range of ages and transportation fields. We educate the current workforce by offering seminars and workshops. We educate the future workforce by sponsoring students and their research projects. We educate the very youngest of our future transportation professionals by showing students the many opportunities that await them as engineers and planners. And through our efforts we learn — what the community needs, what we can provide and how we can work together to get it done.

Current Workforce

TTI performs valuable research for the transportation industry, but without implementation, that research could sit on a shelf and collect dust. The seminars and workshops TTI conducts, most notably for the Texas Department of Transportation and the National Highway Institute, are one way to get the word out. Recent topics have included designing and operating intersections for safety, freeway management and operations, traffic signal design and operations, work zone management and design, new approaches to highway safety analysis, and state and metropolitan transportation planning.

“The people we teach aren’t just students,” says Gary Thomas, director of the Center for Professional Development. “They have life experiences that they bring to the classroom, and we always learn something from them. We incorporate that valuable information into the next workshops we teach.”

TTI‘s reach extends internationally as well. Recently, Institute instructors traveled to Thailand and the Middle East to share their expertise — again learning from their students’ different worldviews and perspectives.

Future Workforce

As part of The Texas A&M University System, TTI has strong ties to the education of undergraduate and graduate students. TTI researchers teach university courses and offer classroom lectures. They may also be official or unofficial members of a student’s thesis or dissertation committee. And often Texas A&M professors work on TTI projects.

One of the most popular exercises of the STI is building balsa-wood bridges.

“It’s important for faculty to be involved in professional activities,” says TTI Research Engineer and Texas A&M Associate Professor of Civil Engineering Gene Hawkins. “Faculty become better at teaching if they’re practicing. They become more knowledgeable about the leading edge and can share the state of the practice with students who will soon enter the workforce.”

Undergraduate and graduate students are an asset to TTI. They work on research projects as student workers or research assistants, bringing different perspectives and focus to their projects. The students themselves learn from transportation professionals, put their learning into practice, and get a jumpstart on their careers, bringing practical experience into the workforce.

The University Transportation Center for Mobility (UTCM) and SWUTC, led by the Institute, are another way TTI supports students. The UTCM and SWUTC fund transportation research but also sponsor student education. With this funding and awards like UTCM Student of the Year, which carries a stipend, students can pursue innovative research that puts another top performer into the transportation industry.

“Our students become consultants, professors and government officials,” says Lomax. “Their shared experiences in the lab give them a better appreciation of how different people think and approach a problem. A shared problem-solving opportunity teaches people how they can benefit from working together.”

Far Future Workforce

TTI casts an eye far down the road — to the transportation industry 15 to 20 years in the future. Who will our transportation professionals be? They’re probably sitting in junior high school right now.

“Grades six, seven and eight are crucial years for children,” says Debbie Jasek, research specialist with the Center for Professional Development. “That’s the age when children figure out what career they’re interested in. Most children know nothing about engineering, and we need to show them what an exciting field transportation is.”

In addition to outreach at schools, Institute professionals attend a variety of events. They demonstrate gadgets, show videos and engage children in fun, creative exercises using science and math. TTI works with the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, creates resources for teachers, and partners with other organizations to encourage children to consider transportation as a career.

TTI also hosts the Texas Summer Transportation Institute, funded by the Federal Highway Administration and other sponsors. The program introduces students to the field of transportation through fun activities during two weeks at Texas A&M, Prairie View A&M University or Texas A&M University–Kingsville. Of the students who attend the event, more than 40 percent go into science or engineering fields.

This Issue

Working Across Transportation Solutions

Volume 46, Number 4
December 2010
Issue Overview