NSW Chapter Seminar: Driver Inattention and Distraction

Download the Powerpoint Presentation here.

This seminar provides insights into innovative work being undertaken to understand and address driver distraction.

During the seminar, Professor Michael Regan from rCITI provides an overview of the issues, including:
• What is driver distraction?
• What are its mechanisms?
• How does it differ from other mechanisms of driver inattention?
• What are its effects on driving performance?
• How does driver distraction and inattention contribute to crashes and crash risk?
• What does research tell us about the effectiveness of countermeasures employed to reduce the prevalence and/or
risks of driver distraction and inattention?

Nicole Downing from TMR talks about:
• Adopting a systems-based, human-centred design approach to understand the issue
• Engaging the ecosystem of public and private sector stakeholders to explore potential solutions
• Collaborating with stakeholders to implement solutions, transfer knowledge and share progress

Professor Michael Regan
Michael (Mike) Regan is Professor of Human Factors (HFs) with the University of NSW Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation. Prior to that he was Chief Scientist – Human Factors for the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB). Mike has BSc (Hons) and PhDdegrees in Psychology and Human Factors from the Australian National University and more than 20 years’ experience as a transportation HFs safety researcher – in Australia, Europe and the US. Mike’s current research interests include driver distraction and inattention, driver interaction with automated vehicles and human factors in road and traffic engineering. He has authored around 250 publications, including 4 books. He is a Fellow of the ACRS and was the 25th President of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia.

Nicole Downing
Nicole Downing has been the Director of Road and Rail Safety in the Land Transport Safety and RegulationBranch at TMR in Queensland since 2016. Bringing with her a depth of experience in developing and progressing strategic policy reform across a number of sectors, including the justice system. She is passionate about achieving safety outcomes for communities through the development and implementation of strategic government policy, and in TMR, Nicole leads teams of multi-disciplinary specialists to develop evidence-based and targeted strategies to effectively respond to road safety challenges in Queensland. Nicole is highly skilled in Policy and Program Development and Implementation, Program Evaluation, Legislation, Community Engagement and Public Governance.