4/17/2023 0 Comments Hands free texting in car![]() Such studies have consistently linked texting or otherwise manipulating a phone to increased risk. Most of what we know about cellphones and crash risk comes from naturalistic studies. There are no reliable estimates of the number of crashes caused by distracted drivers. In an on-road study, drivers who reported frequent cellphone use drove faster, changed lanes more often and made more hard braking maneuvers than drivers who said they rarely used cellphones while driving ( Zhao et al., 2013). In an IIHS study of drivers who were continuously monitored for one year, the drivers who spent the greatest amount of their driving time interacting with a cellphone also had the highest rates of near crashes and crashes ( Farmer et al., 2015). People who use cellphones more frequently while driving may be riskier drivers in other respects. Observational surveys conducted by IIHS in 20 in Virginia found an increase in cellphone manipulation from 2.3 percent of drivers to 3.4 percent ( Kidd & Chaudary, 2019). That’s a substantial increase from 2009, when 0.6 percent of all drivers and 1.1 percent of drivers 16-24 years old were observed manipulating phones. National observation surveys indicate the rate of drivers texting or otherwise manipulating hand-held devices at any moment during the day has more than doubled from 1.3 percent in 2011 to 2.8 percent in 2020, with the rate highest, at 4.2 percent, for drivers estimated to be 16-24 years old ( National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2021). Combining this observational data with self-reported data on hand-held and hands-free phone use, the federal government estimates that 7.9 percent of drivers were using a hand-held or hands-free cellphone during any moment of the day. ![]() Cellphone use by driversĪ 2020 national observational survey found that 2.6 percent of drivers stopped at intersections were talking on hand-held phones at any moment during the day ( National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2021). Broader countermeasures that keep drivers from becoming distracted or that mitigate the consequences of distracted driving, such as crash avoidance technology, may be more effective than cellphone bans. Drivers are distracted by things other than cellphones, so prohibiting phone use will not eliminate distracted driving. Crashes have increased in recent years, but overall cellphone use has not. This is the case even though IIHS research has documented that bans on hand-held phone use reduce overall phone use. It's not clear that banning hand-held phone use and texting reduces crashes. The crash risk associated with these other activities isn't well established. Besides using electronic gadgets, distractions can also include adjusting a radio, eating and drinking, reading, grooming, and interacting with passengers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration defines distracted driving as any activity that could divert attention from the primary task of driving. Some studies, but not all, have found that talking on a cellphone also increases crash risk.Ĭellphones and texting aren't the only things that can distract drivers. Researchers have consistently linked texting or otherwise manipulating a cellphone to increased risk. Using a cellphone while driving increases crash risk. ![]()
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