Why is it Unsafe to use a Cellphone while Driving
It’s difficult to pin down precisely how hazardous it is to drive while talking or texting on a cellphone. Only a limited number of studies have been done, they’ve had differing and sometimes flawed methodologies, and they often rely on self-reporting of drivers, which can be notoriously unreliable.
The results of the studies have been all over the board. (Truck drivers are 23 times more likely to get in an accident if they are texting than if they are not, drivers are 4 times more likely to get in an accident causing significant injury if they are using cellphones than if they are not, drivers are 1.3 times more likely to get in an accident if they are using cellphones than if they are not, etc.)
But even if the studies conducted so far are ambiguous if not contradictory about some of the details, if we step back and look at the research as a whole, a fairly clear picture emerges that cellphone use while driving is very hazardous. The available evidence doesn’t allow us to identify the degree of risk with great confidence, but it does allow us to say that the risk is substantial.
Cellphone use while driving does two dangerous things. One, it requires the driver to take his or her eyes off the road to punch in a phone number or text. Two, it distracts the driver mentally from the task of driving by requiring him or her to focus on communicating via the phone.
This makes cellphone use while driving a subset of the category of driving while distracted, which collectively is (probably - this is another point where the research isn’t definitive) the single most common cause of traffic accidents. Driving while distracted could be trying to catch a cup that’s falling out of your lap, checking your make-up in the mirror, loading your CD changer, looking at a map, checking out the girl walking by in a short skirt, etc. Using a cellphone is just one of those things we do in our cars other than fully focus on the task at hand.
Presumably one could solve half the problem by using a hands free device that doesn’t require you to look away from the road. The mental distraction of having your mind on communication instead of fully on driving would remain, but that shouldn’t be any worse than, say, carrying on a conversation with someone physically present in the car.
What’s interesting though is that what little research has been done does not bear this out. So far it appears the risk of driving while using a cellphone is the same whether one is using a conventional cellphone or a hands-free device.
Why might this be so? Some speculate that it makes drivers overconfident. It may be that they know they’re doing something unsafe when they’re using a regular phone so they try to drive extra careful to compensate, whereas with a hands-free device they don’t bother to try to compensate because they don’t think it’s risky. Or perhaps of the two distractions, the mental distraction of communication was always far greater than that of taking one’s eyes off the road for a few seconds here and there, so eliminating the lesser of the two problems isn’t that big a deal. Or perhaps better and more thorough research will reveal that there is a significant difference in the level of risk after all.
In any case, the prudent response for now is to treat driving while using a hands-free device as comparably risky as driving while using a conventional cellphone, and therefore to not do either.
Driving while distracted by using a cellphone is in its way similar to driving drunk. With both, your reaction time is substantially slowed. Something happens on the road in front of you and because you’re on your cellphone, you either don’t see it as quickly or you don’t process the information as quickly because your mind has to shift over from your conversation. Much like when you’re drunk you react in slow motion. It may be only a two or three second difference, or indeed even a fraction of a second difference, but routinely that small a difference can cause an accident.
Not to be melodramatic about it, but it literally can cause a death. A lot of people die, because people use cellphones when they drive. Do you really need more reason than that not to?
Sources:
“Cellphones and Driving”
“Drivers and Legislators Dismiss Cellphone Risks”
