SMARTWheel:SMARTWheel:Steering Wheel Sensors to Prevent Steering Wheel Sensors to Prevent

Distracted DrivingDistracted Driving

Prepared for the Road Safety Policy Office of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation

FH MaqsoodApril 10th, 2014

Table of Contents

Road Safety and Distracted Driving…….3-5SMARTwheel Technology………………………6Current Research…………………………….......7Policy Options………………....................8-12References……………………………………..…..13

Road Safety and Distracted Driving

Ontario Ministry of Transportation predicts that by 2016, distracted driving fatalities will surpass those from drinking and driving (MTO, 2014)

Condition of Drivers in Ontario Collisions, 2010

What is Inattentive Driving?-Includes use of cellphones to talk or text, eating, reading, grooming, changing radio stations, etc-These diversion reduce awareness, decision-making and performance leading to increased risk of driver error, near-crashes or crashesWhat is currently being done?-In October 2009, Ontario made it illegal to use hand held devices while drivingHow important is the issue?-Ontario in process of increasing fines for distracted driving from a range of $60 - $500 to a range of $300 - $1,000 and assigning three demerit points upon conviction

Road Safety and Distracted Driving

More needs to be done:-Distracted driving is cited as a causal factor in 30 to 50 per cent of traffic collisions on Ontario, but is probably much higher due to under-reporting (Ontario Provincial Police)

Road Safety and Distracted Driving

- 250,852 charges laid on drivers using devices from 2010-2013

(Ontario Association of Police Services, 2012)

- Impossible for police to enforce law 100%

- New technologies in the future will increase driver distractions (vehicle internet, more advanced phones)

SMARTwheel TechnologySteering wheel with touch/pressure sensor

Anti-distraction device monitors drivers hands to detect unsafe hand position, able to record activity data

Sends out visual (light) and audio (alarm) signals when driver’s hands are deemed unsafe

Two hands: GREEN LIGHT + silentNo hands: RED LIGHT + immediate ALARM

One hand or two hands too close: RED LIGHT + ALARM after 3 sec.

Current Research - Product still in prototype stage, tested at MIT and found 90%

users said it would change their habits

- Lack of research, but other “driver alerting system” and research from similar technologies can be used as a comparison

- 2008 meta-study found improvement in seat belt use in cars with an audiovisual signal (increase from 86% to 97%) (Lie, 2008)

- 2002 study found increase in seat belt use with Ford’s BeltMinder system (71% to 76%) (Williams, 2002)

- 2003 study by the NHTSA on attitudes found after trying it, 71% would switch to a seat belt alarm

- Assuming a similar effectiveness rate and acceptance towards SMARTwheel, it’s use in Ontario may have potential

More research is needed!

Under Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act: 78.1 (7) The Minister can make regulations prescribing devices to uphold 78.1 (1):No person shall drive a motor vehicle on a highway while holding or using a hand-held wireless communication device or other prescribed device that is capable of receiving or transmitting telephone communications, electronic data, mail or text messages

Pilot Project Policy Options

Like the ignition interlock device, SMARTwheel is a safety device that can be retrofit into cars already in use, but can also be licensed to manufacturers

Option 1-Install SMARTWheel technology in the cars of a volunteer focus group of 300 young drivers in Ontario for 6 months-Half of participants will get a silent and non-flashing SMARTwheel as a control-Determine difference in percentage of time spend holding the steering wheel with and without audio/visual signals-Analyze data to determine any patterns in cell phone use

Pilot Project Policy OptionsPilot Project Option 1: Focus on Young Drivers- NHTSA has done multiple studies showing teens are most vulnerable to distraction -Prevalence of high-risk attention to secondary tasks higher among novice drivers (Klauer, 2014)

Pilot Project Policy Options

- Again, half of participants will get a silent, non-flashing SMARTwheel as a control

- Determine difference in percentage of time spend holding the steering wheel with and without audio/visual signals

Pilot Project Option 2: Partner with Manufacturer- Form an agreement with a manufacturer (Ford, GM, etc) to obtain the license to the product and integrate it into a future model (2016) before entering Ontario market

Policy Options

Option 1

Option 2

Both options should provide a conclusion of whether the technology indeed reduces distracted driving

- Volunteer teens may have selection bias- Ministry needs to fund research ($$)

- Manufacturer needs agree to participate- May enhance competition for similar products by other

manufacturers

N=300

Goal of policy options is to determine if the MTO should legislate or recommend the use of SMARTwheel

To finally reach a policy recommendation need to determine:

Policy Options

1.Effectiveness of technology2.How to implement it (licensing or after market)3.Identify populations at high risk for inattentive driving 4.Determine if feasible for Ontario to mandate SMARTwheel without a policy at the federal level5.If there is interest at the federal level (Transport Canada)

References1. Ontario Road Safety Annual Report 2010

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/safety/orsar/orsar10/

2. MTO News Release, March 17th, 2014 http://www.ontariocanada.com/registry/showAttachment.do?postingId=15602&attachmentId=23840

3. Ontario Provincial Police: Distracted Driving http://www.opp.ca/ecms/index.php?id=545

4. Ontario Association of Police Services Board http://www.oapsb.ca/advocacy_postions/2012/03/20/qpd2012_rising_costs_final.pdf

5. SMARTwheel http://smartwheelusa.com/index.html#SMARTwheel%20Information.html

6. Lie, Anders et al, 2008. “Intelligent seat belt reminders-do they change driver seat belt use in Europe?” Traffic Injury Prevention, Oct 2008. http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/ESV/esv20/07-0388-O.pdf

7. Williams, Allan et al, 2002. “Effectiveness of Ford’s belt reminder system in increasing seat belt use” Injury Prevention, 2002. http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/8/4/293.long

8. NHTSA, 2003. “Qualitative research regarding attitudes towards four technologies aimed at increasing safety belt use” http://www.rid.trb.org/view.aspx?id=678479

9. Klauer, Sheila et al, 2014. Distracted Driving and Risk of Road Crashes among Novice and Experienced Drivers. New England Journal of Medicine. Jan 2014. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1204142