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The fact that a driver’s attention is diverted away from activities critical to safe driving and toward a competing activity does not by itself guarantee that performance and safety will be compromised. This point was underscored in Chapter 5. There are many factors that moderate the outcome of such an interaction: the complexity of the competing activity and current driving demands; how often, and for how long, the driver is exposed to the competing activity; and driver characteristics such as age, gender, driving experience, driver state, and willingness to engage. All of these factors affect the driver’s ability to prevent and mitigate the impact of the competing activity. As noted in Chapter 7, the risk of crash is influenced by extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Extrinsic factors may include the driving task, traffic density, speed, and weather conditions, and intrinsic factors may include an individual’s risktaking propensity, driving experience, age, and state (eg, fatigued, drowsy, inebriated). Many of these factors may change between episodes of exposure.