Presented at First international conference on driver distraction and inattention (DDI 2009), Gothenburg, Sweden, September 28-29, 2009

This paper quantifies the prevalence and severity of distracting driver behavioursusing an online questionnaire survey. The instrument collected anonymous self-report data on demographics, rated frequency and severity of distracting behaviours. Data was collected from 482 respondents during a two-month collection period. The three behaviours rated most distracting while driving were writing text messages, reading text messages, and using the telephone hand-held. The most frequently reported distracting behaviours that resulted in self-reported accidents (and near misses) were ‘interaction with child passengers’, route guidance destination entry, and use of an ‘… add-on media device’. These were followed by the three items ‘reading a text message’, ‘following advice from a route guidance system’, and ‘interaction with pets’ with respondents also reporting accidents when undertaking these activities. Respondents rated cellular telephone use to be the most distracting driver behaviour, yet many still do this when driving.