Over the past few years, one of the most popular types of vehicle safety laws has been the placement of restrictions on cell phone use by drivers who are operating a vehicle. If you’ve ever been stuck behind a person driving 15 to 20 miles per hour below the posted speed limit, only to pass that person and see her face looking down into her lap (obviously at her phone), then you understand the sentiment behind these laws. If someone is distracted and looking at a phone, that person is less likely to be able to respond in an appropriate time frame to events on the road. Drinking alcohol before getting behind the wheel slows reaction time as well, and it also impairs the driver’s judgment when making decisions. One question that has arisen in policy planning circles is the relative degree of danger between driving drunk and driving while using a cell phone. Different studies have brought back slightly different results, but the most important implication from all of this research is that neither drinking and driving nor using a cellphone while driving is a safe idea.
One piece of information from the 2000 U.S. census shows that the average American driver has an average commute time of 25.5 minutes per day, each way (Strayer, Drews and Crouch 2006). With more and more pressure being placed on workers to perform well on the job and to complete work assignments outside the office (Friedman 2014), it makes sense that people would try to multitask while they are on the way to work. After all, much of the time that people spend on their commute involves either sitting still or moving very slowly, as rush hour traffic snarls up roadways. However, the fact that people have a limited ability to pay attention, taking part in activities like sending text messages, talking on the phone and sending emails takes precious attention away from the job of driving. Obviously, there are some distractions that have always been available, but the number of new electronic gadgets that have been invented over the past few years and are now being used in cars is on the rise. A lot of these new forms of technology involve the delivery of sophisticated amounts of information. It is possible to surf the web, send email messages (and even faxes), watch television shows (or movies), or even read a book while driving, just with the use of a smartphone. Because of the increase in cognitive complexity of many of these tasks over the older distractions (drinking, eating, putting on makeup, listening to music), these new activities actually comprise more of a hazard because they take longer to complete and they occupy more of the brain.
Researchers estimate that, at any point in time, about one driver in twelve currently on the road is using his or her cell phone (Glassbrenner 2005). The research is clear (Strayer, Drews and Johnston 2003; Strayer and Johnston 2001) that driving performance suffers when cell phone use is a part of the equation. Drivers are more likely to miss traffic signals, people braking right in front of them and other signals when they are using a cell phone.
A 1997 study (Redelmeier and Tibshirani) was the first to study the comparative risk of driving while using a cell phone and operating a car with one’s blood alcohol level at the legal maximum. Their study involved 699 people who had been in minor car accidents. About one in four had used their cell phone within the ten minutes leading up to the accident, and the researchers connected this with a 400% increase in the likelihood of having an accident if you are using your cell phone, and they stated in their results that “the relative risk [of having a wreck while utilizing a cellular phone] is similar to the hazard associated with driving with a blood alcohol level at the legal limit” (Redelmeier and Tibshirani 1997, p. 456).
The 2006 study by Strayer, Drews and Crouch found that drivers whose blood alcohol level was 0.08% (the legal limit) was significantly different from drivers using a cell phone. The drivers who had been drinking followed cars more closely and then would push the brake pedal harder when the vehicle in front of them began to slow down. This did not support the common assumption that drinking alcohol slows down reaction time, although the researchers acknowledged that having the study take place between 9:00 am and noon did not reflect the time of day when most drunk driving takes place (p. 390).
The research in place that compares drunk driving to distracted driving is mixed, but the implications are fairly clear: using a cellphone while driving impairs the driver’s ability to respond in a timely manner to events on the road. Different people respond differently to distractions (and to alcohol) but the best advice to take from this article is that staying off one’s phone and waiting to sober up before getting behind the wheel are both prudent courses of action.
Works Cited
Friedman R, 2014. Work-life balance is dead. CNN.com 9 December 2014.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/09/opinion/friedman-work-life-balance/index.html
Glassbrenner D, 2005. Driver cell phone use in 2004 – Overall results. In Traffic safety facts:
Research note (DOT HS 809 847). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation.
Redelmeier DA and Tibshirani RJ, 1997. Association between cellular-telephone calls and motor
vehicle collisions. New England Journal of Medicine 336: 435-458.
Strayer D, Drews F and Crouch D 2006, A comparison of the cell phone driver and the drunk
driver. Human Factors 48(2): 381-391.
Strayer D, Drews F and Johnston @, 2003. Cell phone induced failures of visual attention during
simulated driving. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 9: 23-52.
Strayer D and Johnston W, 2001. Drivne to distraction: Dual-task studies of simulated driving
and conversing on a cellular phone. Psychological Science 12: 462-466.
