Vol.:(0123456789) Multimedia Tools and Applications https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-024-19050-w 1 3 IoT‑Fog‑based framework to prevent vehicle–road accidents caused by self‑visual distracted drivers Munish Saini 1  · Sulaimon Oyeniyi Adebayo 2  · Vaibhav Arora 1 Received: 4 September 2023 / Revised: 24 January 2024 / Accepted: 22 March 2024 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2024 Abstract An increasing number of road accidents, a major global issue, are linked to growing demands for faster vehicle speeds. Analytical research highlights the significance of self- visual distraction events for drivers in these occurrences. In this study, we present an IoT- Fog-based framework that is intended to automatically identify and notify drivers of self- visual distraction as it occurs. With a conditional evaluation dependent on the status of the driver, the proposed framework uses Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to extract characteristics and expressions indicative of a distracted state of the driver. The frame- work shows encouraging results, proving the effectiveness of the model with a high accu- racy rate of 90% and precision value of 91%. Notably, in terms of detection accuracy, the suggested framework outperforms other state-of-the-art techniques. Real-time alerts that involve prompt recognition and persistent beeping until normality is restored can reduce traffic accidents and are an essential intervention for saving lives. Keywords IoT-Fog-based framework · Road accidents · Vehicle drivers · Self-distraction · Alert generation · Event detection 1 Introduction Driving necessitates continuous communication between the driver (mostly a human operator), the vehicle systems, and the road infrastructure [1]. Driver distraction has over the years consecutively topped the list of major causes of road accidents [2, 3]. Urbanization and increased standard of living have resulted in more vehicles on the road [4]. This in turn has multiplied the chances and risks of road accidents. There are sev- eral factors responsible for driver distractions [5], and the dominating factor is the usage of smartphones or mobile phones behind the wheel [6]. Also, negligence can be a con- tributing cause to distractions on the road. * Munish Saini munish.cet@gndu.ac.in 1 Department of Computer Engineering and Technology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India 2 Department of Computer Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia