Culture of distracted driving among intra-city commercial bus drivers in Ile-Ife, South-western Nigeria Olabisi Michael Olapoju Department of Geography, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria article info Article history: Received 11 June 2015 Received in revised form 30 June 2016 Accepted 6 July 2016 Available online xxxx Keywords: N-DAs Passenger scouting Commercial bus drivers Loss of concentration Assistantship abstract This study investigated the culture of driving distractions among commercial bus drivers in Ile-Ife, Southwestern Nigeria. The aim was to identify the most prominent non-driving activity (N-DA) causing distraction to drivers. 16 independent research assistants were engaged in naturalistic recording of 128 commercial bus drivers in the study area. Among the variables selected for observation, passenger scouting (93%), fare collection (89.8%) and money counting (75%) were found to be the frequent N-DAs in their order of importance. These variables (passenger scouting, fare collection and money counting), however, have correlations with drivers having no conductor on-board. More so, relationships existed between certain N-DAs (call making, passenger scouting, fare collection sight-seeing and money counting) and loss of concentration by drivers on one hand; and between loss of concentration and the forms the loss of concentration took. It can be concluded from the findings that driving was disrupted and uncoordinated when combined with non-driving activities. Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Driving is an over-learned task with which individuals often have extensive experience (Groeger, 1999). It is a compli- cated task, requiring the concurrent execution of various cognitive, physical, sensory and psychomotor skills; and influenced by a number of factors such as arousal, perception, learning, memory, attention, concentration, emotion, reflex speed, time estimation, auditory and visual functions and decision making Groeger (2000). Although, Hancock, Mouloua, and Senders (2008) described driving as one that is overwhelmingly a ‘statisficing’ process, the admonition that driver should ‘‘keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel” is evidence that driving requires full driver’s attention. However, notwithstand- ing the complexity of driving activity, it is a common scenario to find drivers engaged in one non-driving activity (N-DA) or the other while on the road. Contemporary research has shown that some certain N-DAs are as old as vehicles (Goodman et al., 1997; Irwin, Fitzgerald, & Berg, 2000; Manser & Jenkins, 2001). The call for higher level of concentration when driving is consequent on the need to ensure the safety of both the drivers and other occupants of the vehicle as well as other road users. N-DAs are conceptually regarded as activities that results in distractions. Although there is a lack of consensus about the term ‘driver distraction’, US-EU Bilateral ITS Technical Task Force (2010) has described driver distraction as the diversion of attention from activities critical for safe driving to a com- peting activity. Stutts, Hunter, and Huang (2003) further elaborated that driver distraction is any activity that distracts the driver or competes for his attention while driving and has the potential to degrade driving performance that may result in serious consequences for road safety. Degradation of driving performance has tendencies to greatly increase the risk of http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2016.07.006 1369-8478/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. E-mail address: olapojuolabisimichael@gmail.com Transportation Research Part F xxx (2016) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Transportation Research Part F journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/trf Please cite this article in press as: Olapoju, O. M. Culture of distracted driving among intra-city commercial bus drivers in Ile-Ife, South- western Nigeria. Transportation Research Part F (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2016.07.006