Driver distraction detection using machine learning algorithms – an experimental approach

Driver distraction is the leading cause of accidents that contributes to 25% of all road crashes. In order to reduce the risks posed by distraction, warning must be given to the driver once distraction is detected. According to the literature, no rankings of relevant features have been presented. In this study, the most relevant features in detecting driver distraction are identified in a closed testing environment. The relevant features are found to be the mean values of speed and lane deviation, maximum values of eye gaze in direction, and head movement in direction. After the relevant features have been identified, pre-processed data with relevant features are fed into decision tree classifiers to discriminate the data into normal and distracted driving. The results show that detection accuracy of 78.4% using decision tree can be achieved. By eliminating unhelpful features, the time required to process data is reduced by around 40% to make the proposed technique suitable for real-time application.