Mobile phone use while driving is common but it is dangerous due to its potential for causing distracted driving and subsequent crashes. Due to the number of crashes that are related to conducting calls on a phone and texting while driving, some jurisdictions have made the use of calling on a phone while driving illegal in an attempt to curb the practice, with varying levels of efficacy. Many jurisdictions have enacted laws making handheld mobile phone use illegal. Many jurisdictions allow use of a hands-free while using a hands-free device has been found by some studies to provide little to no benefit versus holding the device itself and carrying on a conversation. In some cases restrictions are directed only at minors, those who are newly qualified license holders (particularly those of a younger age), or to drivers in school zones. In addition to voice calling, activities such as texting while driving, web browsing, playing video games, or phone use in general may also increase the risk of a crash.
In the United States, automobile crashes due to distracted driving are increasing even after the passage of laws intended to lessen such use while driving. Using a cell phone while driving increases the driver's risk of causing a crash. Drivers can become distracted, decreasing the driver's awareness on the road, leading to more car crashes. When drivers talk on cell phones the risk of an automobile crash resulting in hospitalization is four times higher than when not talking on a cell phone. Drivers who text when behind the wheel are twenty-three times more likely to have an automobile crash.
Studies
Prevalence
The Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), the provincial automobile insurance association in Quebec, conducted a study on driving and cellphones in 2003. Questionnaires were sent to 175,000 drivers and analysis was done on the 36,078 who responded. The questionnaire asked about driving habits, risk exposure, collisions over the past 24 months, socio-demographic information, and cell phone use. Questionnaires were supported with data from cell phone companies and crash records held by police. The study found that the overall relative risk (RR) of having a crash for cell phone users when compared to non-cell phone users averaged 1.38 across all groups. When adjusted for distance driven per year and other crash risk exposures, RR was 1.11 for men and 1.21 for women. They also found that increased cell phone use correlated with an increase in RR. When the same data were reanalyzed using a Bayesian approach, the calculated RR of 0.78 for those making less than 1 call/day and 2.27 for those with more than 7 calls/day was similar to cohort analysis. When the data were reanalyzed using case-crossover analysis, RR was calculated at a much higher 5.13. The authors expressed concern that misclassification of phone call and cell phone usage due to reporting errors of the exact time of the collisions was a major source of bias with all case-crossover analysis of this issue.
In March 2011, the US insurance company State Farm Insurance announced the results of a study which showed 19% of drivers surveyed accessed the Internet on a smart phone while driving. In September 2010, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a report on distracted driving fatalities for 2009. The NHTSA considers distracted driving to include some of the following as distractions: other occupants in the car, eating, drinking, smoking, adjusting radio, adjusting environmental control, reaching for object in car, and cell phone use. In 2009 in the US, there was a reported 5,474 people killed by distracted drivers. Of those, 995 were considered to be killed by drivers distracted by cell phones. The report does not state whether this under- or overrepresents the level of cell phone use amongst drivers, and whether there is a causal relationship.US DOT National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Distracted Drive Report released September 2010
A 2003 study of US crash data states that driver inattention is estimated to be a factor in 25% to 50% of all police-reported crashes. Driver distraction, a sub-category of inattention, has been estimated to be a contributing factor in 8% to 13% of all crashes. Of distraction-related crashes, cell phone use may range from 1.5 to 5% of contributing factors. However, large unknowns in each category may increase the inaccuracy of these estimates. A 2001 study sponsored by the American Automobile Association recorded "Unknown Driver Attention Status" for 41.5% of crashes, and "Unknown Distraction" in 8.6% of all distraction related crashes. According to NHTSA, "There is clearly inadequate reporting of crashes".
Currently, being distracted by an "outside person, object, event" (commonly known as "rubbernecking") is the most reported cause of distraction-related crashes, followed by "adjusting radio/cassette/CD". "Using/dialing cell phone" is eighth. A 2003 study by the University of Utah psychology department measured response time, following distance, and driving speed of a control group, subjects at the legal blood alcohol content (BAC) limit of 0.08%, and subjects involved in cell phone conversations. As the study notes; "... this is the third in a series of studies that we have conducted evaluating the effects of cell phone use on driving using the car following procedure (see also Strayer & Drews, 2004; and Strayer et al., 2003). Across these three studies, 120 participants performed in both baseline and cell phone conditions. Two of the participants in our studies were involved in a crash in baseline conditions, whereas 10 participants were involved in a crash when they were conversing on a cell phone." However, no drunk driver had a crash in any test. After controlling for driving difficulty and time on task, the study concluded that cell phone drivers exhibited greater impairment than drunk drivers.
Meta-analyses A 2005 review by the Hawaii House of Representatives entitled "Cell Phone Use and Motor Vehicle Collisions: A Review of the Studies" contains an analysis of studies on cell phone/motor vehicle crash causality. A key finding was that: "No studies were found that directly address and resolve the issue of whether a causal relation exists between cellular telephone use while operating a motor vehicle and motor vehicle collisions."Cell Phone Use and Motor Vehicle Collisions: A Review of the Studies Meta-analysis by the Canadian Automobile Association and the University of Illinois found that response time while using both hands-free and hand-held phones was approximately 0.5 standard deviations higher than normal driving (i.e. an average driver, while talking on a cell phone, has response times of a driver in roughly the 40th percent
Problematic mobile phone use
Arguments from increase in mobile subscription
In the US, the number of cell phone subscribers has increased by 1,262.4% between the years 1985-2008. In approximately the same period the number of crashes has fallen by 0.9% (1995–2009) and the number of fatal crashes fallen by 6.2%. It has been argued that these statistics contradict the claims that mobile use impairs driving performance. Similarly, a 2010 study from the Highway Loss Data Institute published in February 2010 reviewed auto claims from three key states along with Washington, D.C., prior to cell phone bans while driving and then after. The study found no reduction in crashes, despite a 41% to 76% reduction in the use of cell phones while driving after the ban was enacted.
Handsfree device Driving while using a handsfree cellular device is not safer than using a hand held cell phone, as concluded by case-crossover studies, epidemiological, simulation, and meta-analysis. The increased cognitive workload involved in holding a conversation, not the use of hands, causes the increased risk. For example, a Carnegie Mellon University study found that merely listening to somebody speak on a phone caused a 37% drop in activity in the parietal lobe, where spatial tasks are managed.The Economist, "Car safety: Think before you speak", 16 April 2011, p. 37.
The United Kingdom In the UK using a mobile phone while driving has been illegal since 2003, unless it is in a handsfree kit. The penalty originally started with a £30 ($40) fine which later became a fine of £60 ($80) plus 3 penalty points in 2006, then £100 ($134) and 3 points in 2013. The 2013 fine increase proved ineffective at stopping motorists from using their phones while driving. The percentage of drivers admitting to using their phones while on the road increased from 8% in 2014 to 31% in 2016, an increase of 23% in two years. In the same year statistics revealed that only 30,000 drivers were given a Fixed penalty notice (FPN) for the offence, compared to 123,000 in 2011. The increased percentage of people using their phones can be attributed in part to the growing affordability of smartphones. Increased smartphone sales and lack of enforcement created a situation where it began to be considered acceptable to use a phone while driving, even though it had been illegal for over 13 years.
In 2017 the Department of transport (DfT) decided to increase the penalties to a £200 ($268) fine with 6 penalty points as a result of the growing acceptance of phone use while driving. This would mean that motorists who perhaps already had 6 points on their driving licence, would be disqualified from driving for 6 months if caught. The biggest detriment would be for newly qualified drivers who have passed their driving tests within the last two years. New drivers have conditions on their licence for two years after passing their test in the UK, with the most significant being that if they gain 6 penalty points on their licence they have to fully retake their driving test. Licence holders after 2 years have 12 points until licence disqualification in most circumstances rather than a ban/retest. The decision to make the penalty 6 points rather than 4 or 5 was likely made to deter young/new drivers from using their phones while driving, as they were observed to be one of the largest age groups committing the offence. A year after the stricter law came in, a smaller 23% of motorists had admitted to using a phone while driving, an 8% reduction compared to 2 years ago. Studies will continue to monitor whether or not this habit persist among motorists as it has done throughout the past, while the British government aims to make picking up your phone as socially unacceptable as drink driving.
Comparisons with passenger conversations The scientific literature is mixed on the dangers of talking on a cell phone versus those of talking with a passenger. The common conception is that passengers are able to better regulate conversation based on the perceived level of danger, therefore the risk is negligible. A study by a University of South Carolina psychology researcher featured in the journal, Experimental Psychology, found that planning to speak and speaking put far more demands on the brain's resources than listening. Measurement of attention levels showed that subjects were four times more distracted while preparing to speak or speaking than when they were listening.Newswise: Talking Distractions: Study Shows Why Cell Phones and Driving Don't Mix The Accident Research Unit at the University of Nottingham found that the number of utterances was usually higher for mobile calls when compared to blindfolded and non-blindfolded passengers across various driving conditions. The number of questions asked averaged slightly higher for mobile phone conversations, although results were not constant across road types and largely influenced by a large number of questions on the urban roads.