Impact of Mobile Phone Use Related Driver Distractions on Road Accidents - A Study in Oman

Road mishaps has been causing great distress for the public and for the governments as well. Driver distraction is one of the major problems causing road accidents and the use of mobile phones during drive is believed to have a direct influence on driver inattention leading to fatal mishaps. The main aim of this study is to put light on the underlying factors that contribute towards driver attention diversion and analyse the impact of cell phone use related driver distraction on roads in Oman. For this study, unique data about driving behaviors were taken from 245 sample divers of different age groups in the Al Dahira Governorate, through a questionnaire survey. Interpretation of the data is done by exploratory factor analysis technique and Cronbach’s alpha values were calculated to check the reliability and consistency of the factors. A structural model for distracted driving factors is developed for substantiating the relationship between driving attributes and crash likelihood due to use of mobile phones during drive. The goodness of fit parameters indicate that the developed model has a fair fit and explains reasonably well, the relation of driver distraction attributes with accident probability. The study concludes with a suggestion of an engineering solution to curb driver negligence due to cell phone use and make automobiles smarter and interactive.