A Driving Distraction – Mobile Phones

Using cell phones whilst driving: Is mentally demanding Increases reaction time to hazards Reduces driving field of view

Why Mobile Phone Conservations are Mentally Demanding. Drivers visualize or create in their minds an image/icon of the person being spoken to and the issues being discussed. Cell phone users are trapped by social etiquette that will not let them drop, discontinue, or be unresponsive in cell phone conversations.

Multi-Tasking “The Truth” Humans can only concentrate well on one task at a time. Switching from one task to another takes time.

Key Findings Drivers engaged in cell phone conversations: Four times as likely to crash than other drivers. Risk comparable to alcohol impaired driving Significantly poorer driving performance

Cell Phones and Reaction Time Cell phone use whilst driving, increases your reaction time to hazards.

Research talking on a mobile phone – even a hands-free set – while driving lengthens reaction time more than being over the legal alcohol limit (Transport Research Laboratory, Berkshire 2001) subjects involved in phone conversations showed significantly slower responses to traffic signals and missed signals entirely much more often than subjects who were listening to the radio or a book on tape (University of Utah 2001) there was no measurable difference, however, in driver responses among those subjects using hand held phones and those using hands-free devices (University of Utah 2001) the risk of collision when using a mobile phone was four times higher than the risk when the mobile phone was not being used (University of Toronto 1997) mobile phones allowing hands-free operation offered no safety advantage over hand held units (University of Toronto 1997).

Field of View- normal driver

Reduced field of view Mobile phone user

What are our responsibilities? As a driver: Never take a phone call while driving alone Allow the passenger or the voice mail box to receive the message In an emergency, pull well off the road to receive or send phone calls As a caller: Ask if they are driving End the conversation if you suspect they are driving Road traffic fatalities (including pedestrians, cyclists and motorists) are projected to double over the next two decades to over 1.5 million people annually, moving from ninth to third in terms of the leading causes of injury and disease globally. Make sure you and your colleagues are not one of those statistics