OSHA says that distracted driving is a factor in 25 percent to 30 percent of all traffic crashes. Researchers say that cell phone use while driving is among the biggest distractions—even with hands-free phones.
Here’s yet another study about the hazards of using a cell phone and driving.
This one, conducted by University of Utah psychologists Frank Drews, Monisha Pasupathi, and David Strayer, concludes that drivers are far more distracted when talking on a cell phone than they are when talking to passengers in the vehicle.
In fact, the researchers say that a person driving and talking on a cell phone is as impaired as a person with the 0.08 percent blood—alcohol level that defines drunk driving in most states.
Drivers Impaired at All Levels of Performance
Reporting their findings in the Journal of Experimental Pyschology: Applied, the Utah researchers say that the driving performance of people talking on cell phones suffers on three levels.
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The first level of performance involves control—keeping the vehicle on course. People talking on cell phones while driving show deficiencies such as drifting out of their lane or drifting to the side of the road.
The second level of performance involves skills needed for maneuvering the vehicle in traffic. Examples of deficiencies at this level include approaching other vehicles too closely, ignoring approaching vehicles while turning at intersections, changes in speed, and delayed reaction times.
The third level of performance described in the study involves what the researchers call "more executive, goal-directed aspects of driving" and reflects strategic performance. Examples of deficiencies at this level are failures to properly execute navigation tasks (for instance, missing an exit) or trip-related planning tasks.
Passengers may actually improve safety, says study co-author David Strayer, because the passenger "adds a second set of eyes, helps the driver navigate, and reminds them where to go."
Previous studies by the Utah scientists found that hands-free phones were just as distracting as hand-held models because the phone conversation is the biggest driving distraction.
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Other Distractions Can Be Deadly, Too.
The Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS) identifies a number of other dangerous driving distractions, including:
- Paying attention to distractions outside the vehicle like scenery, etc.
- Adjusting vehicle climate/radio controls
- Eating a meal or a snack while driving
- Reading a map or other material
- Grooming
- Thinking about things other than driving such as personal problems, work, etc.
NETS also points out that a driver’s ability to manage distractions is affected by stress and fatigue.
OSHA chimes in with this observation: "With hectic schedules and roadway delays, many employees feel pressured to multitask just to keep up with their personal and work-related responsibilities. More time on the road means less time at home or at work, but ‘drive time’ can never mean ‘down time.’"
Experts report that drivers make more than 200 decisions during every mile traveled. So it’s critical to stress to employees, says OSHA, that when driving, “safe driving is the primary responsibility."
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Please stop it, people. All of these pop-science conclusions about vaguely worded single/small studies are going to lead to some (more) bad laws.
First let me say that I endorse elimination of the use of any communications device, by hand, in a vehicle. I do not endorse elimination of headsets or their variations.
I see the drift of all of these kind of studies to be that telephonic communications, of every kind, are bad under any circumstances. Such conclusions would indicate that airline pilots, fighter pilots and space shuttle pilots, bombarded by a steady stream of data from both their headsets and their flight deck partners can’t possibly be functioning properly or safely. Obviously this is not true.
What’s the difference? Experience and maturity added to the training to shift ones focus back and forth, very rapidly, between the auditory data stream and the visual information stream. Good drivers can also have these characteristics.
This cited study was: done with 20 year olds (shown by many other studies to have inferior driving abilities); and, there is no form of control set up in their experiment, i.e., how did each driver perform with no distractions and other distractions, such as talk radio, singing, etc. The next weakness with this and virtually all of the other studies that I’ve read is that they are all done over a very short time span (in this case, just 10 minutes) and most of them use simulators. There isn’t time or space for me to go off about simulators — one only needs to read the multitude of studies that show performance in a simulator does NOT equal performance in the real world — especially short exposure to the simulator.
Bottom line is that here is another flawed study, presented to the public as a grand academic study, which is going to be cited all over the media, contributing to the onset of bad laws, written by our techno-ignorant lawmakers and their minions.
P.S.: I have nothing to do with the cellular or any other communications industry. I’m just a scientist that is exasperated by pop-science conclusions being promulgated by the media.
I agree with John Wegner. I have been using mobile phones since they weighed 20 pounds (Old bag phones of the early 80’s). I have never been in an accident or caused one. I don’t condone usage in heavy traffic but have done so myself without any problems. I use a hands free device that clips to the visor and can send the call through the radio system in my car if need be and have found it to be a very useful device. As the article stated the young drivers that were part of the study (are also among those with the highest percentage of accidents according the insurance industry) are not among the highest percentage of drivers on the road but does nothing to disseminate that information or offer any studies on the more seasoned drivers. Those of us that have been on the road for many years with a much greater ability to multi task are not included in the study. The media does a very poor job of telling all, and are targeting only what they want you to hear. If the study was not biased, where are the other age groups? The media has become extremely slanted with their views and does nothing to reflect the broad scope of any issues. Read the article again to see what I believe is slanted views. They only offer a small part of what should be extensive studies before releasing there findings. I find it odd and disappointing that no one is asking any relevant questions and accepting one sided views without scrutiny. I no longer believe everything I read.
Many, or perhaps even most, workplaces have something on the premises that would be correctly termed a "confined space." If you have regulated confined spaces, you need to have a confined spaces program to protect workers.