Does the use of a cell phone while driving influence the driver's ability to execute a proper turn? Is there difference between genders pertaining to motor skill while driving in a simulated driving environment? To accomplish this task, three groups of ten participants (5 women and 5 men) each were tested using a scripted test scenario focusing on left and right turns. The participants were made to drive through a test scenario to get used to the driving simulator. The scenario for the experimental group was an inner-city training scenario with the presence of vehicular traffic and the main focus area was on six critical turns (3 left and 3 rights). The apparatus used for this study was the "Patrol Simulator" built by GE Driver Development. A 2 (Gender) x 3 (Cell phone condition) between subjects design was used to assess the differences in mean driving performance between gender (male and female) at 3 cell phone conditions (No Phone, Phone No Conversation, Phone with Conversation). The study verified that cellular phones would adversely affects a driver's ability to perform turns, and showed that gender plays a role in this effect. However, it did confirm that gender does not play any role in a person's overall ability to drive. The results indicated a significant main effect for Cell phone Condition for overall turns , F (2, 24) = 38.83, p > .0005, n[eta]² = .76. Results also indicated a significant interaction between Gender and Cell Phone Conditions, F (2, 24) = 3.97, p=.032, n[eta]² = 0.25.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd-1148 |
| Date | 01 January 2004 |
| Creators | Ravishankar, Anusha |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
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