Résumé
Objective To assess the association between mind wandering (i.e. thinking unrelated to the task at hand) and the risk of being responsible for the crash. Design Responsibility case-control study. Setting Adult emergency department of the Bordeaux University hospital (France) from April 2010 to August 2011. Participants 955 injured drivers presenting as a result of motor vehicle crash. Main outcome measures The main outcome variable was responsibility for the crash. Exposures were mind wandering, external distraction, negative affect, alcohol use, psychotropic medicine use, and sleep deprivation. Potential confounders were sociodemographic and crash characteristics. Results Beyond classical risk factors found to be associated with responsibility, the results showed that intense mind wandering was associated with being responsible for a crash (17% [responsible] vs. 9% [not responsible]; adjusted OR [95% CI]=2.12 [1.37-3.28]). Conclusions Mind wandering while driving, by decoupling attention from visual and auditory perceptions, may jeopardize the ability of the driver to incorporate information from the environment, thereby threatening safety on the roads. Our findings provide support for the latest research designed to develop systems to detect periods of driving vulnerability related to inattention. In addition, further research is recommended to assess how these results could lead to innovative interventions such as attentional training for drivers at risk of inattention.