Using your phone on the road could make you a safer driver: study

[ThaFlash]

ARTICLE HERE

New research suggests mobile phones may make some road-users pay more attention.

Using your phone behind the wheel may not be as dangerous as we've been lead to believe.

Despite existing research stating that driving while using your mobile phone could be as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol, new research has found the link between mobile phone use and car crashes may have been overestimated.

A study by economists from the University of Chicago and the London School of Economics used data from a Californian mobile phone company and compared it to crash statistics over an 11 day period, and found that despite a rise in phone calls made on the move, no significant correlation was found.

The findings matched roving call data (by monitoring phones moving between phone towers) with crash reports at specific times when it could be proved that the number of drivers on the road using their phone increased, but over the research period there was no increase in reported crashes.

Furthermore, when the researchers looked further afield to other US states, there was still no significant rise in crash reports despite higher moving mobile phone use.

The researchers concluded that there are three possible explanations for the outcome:

- people who talk on their phone while driving may become more cautious of other road-users

- people who have no regard for other road-users will still drive the same whether they're using a phone or not

- while mobiles may distract some, they may actually make other drivers more alert

While the finding is an interesting one, the researchers are not condoning using your phone when you drive.

"We note that this research does not imply that cell phone use is innocuous," the report states. "It simply implies that current cellular use by drivers does not appear to cause a rise in crashes.

"It is possible that drivers who use such devices compensate for the added distraction by driving more carefully," the report says. "Alternatively, it could be that risk loving drivers may treat cell phones as a substitute for other, equally debilitating, distractions. Finally, because we measure a local average treatment effect, it could be that cell phones are dangerous for certain drivers or driving conditions, and are countervailingly beneficial for others."

The report concludes with a suggestion for further research into driver mobile phone use, including the influence of mobile usage across different drivers and in different driving conditions

Well well well......

[Jim Goose]

Ha sorry, the majority of drivers you see talking on the phone sure as hell are not paying attension to how they are driving.

Constantly see people either driving real slow, driving real slow in a bike lane, speeding, driving through red lights, missing gears in a manual gear change, change lanes with indicating, cut people off.... all while on the phone.

[Falcon Coupe]

My research of seeing slow drivers all over the road mostly on the phone shows otherwise.

[TheInterceptor]

People will see this article, start to use their phones more whilst driving = more fines given...

yep yep yep yep whichever way you look at it it has crock written all over it.....

[Linkachu]

I never talk on the phone and drive, but sometimes i text and i find i slow down a lot and loose concertration.

So i stopped doing that, scares me to much

[TheInterceptor]

But cmon, its really not that hard (in most suburban situations) to just pull over or even stop in the far left lane (where possible and logical).

[LowEL2XR8]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUzQA...eature=related
Do I dare say that if this person was not on the phone this would not of happened.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M74j...eature=related
Yes it does make you more alert after the accident.

[dannyhilton]

11 day period hey? Did they monitor four cars too?

[pauljh74]

Originally Posted by Falcon Coupe

My research of seeing slow drivers all over the road mostly on the phone shows otherwise.

The accidents happen when the other cars swerve to avoid the person weaving around while on the phone and the person on the phone continues on down the road oblivious to the multi car pile up behind them.

[Trevor 57]

A bull-**** study is what I say, done by a phone company -- LOL what a scam

[chevypower]

That article is completely crap. Going by my own lack of attention towards my driving while talking on the phone, as well as personally judging others' bad driving, then being able to see the driver was on the phone in a lot of cases. Yes, people might TRY to be more cautious, but being cautious and being attentive are not the same things.

[superyob]

Originally Posted by Linkachu

I never talk on the phone and drive, but sometimes i text and i find i slow down a lot and loose concertration.

So i stopped doing that, scares me to much

As road user with a family, this kind of behaviour absolutely terrifies me. By what measure does anyone think this activity, texting and driving, is ok? This is yet another visible sign of a self absorbed culture that endangers everybody else.

[wrongwaynorris]

I am a rep and spend an inordinate amount of time on the phone while driving and have done for 20 odd years now without ( touch wood ) a single accident . If your'e a good driver with good situational awareness and the ability to do more than one thing at a time wheres the problem ? I suspect most people who blame mobile phone usage for accidents they cause may be in a lot of cases looking to diminish their responsibility or just simply not face the fact they are a crap driver . If I had to pull over to the side of the road to make a phone call it would take me a week to do what I now do in half a day .

[AndrewR_AUII]

crash statistics over an 11 day period
no significant correlation was found.

Anybody who has done statistics will see the significance of these two phrases.
With such a small sample size, the error in the results is going to be so high that a 'significant' correlation is not going to be possible.

[Fled74]

Unfortunately most people on the road have next to no situational awareness.
Just last week I had to avoid a car that drifted partway into my lane - the driver was a Vietnamese girl with her eyes looking down below the steering wheel, texting, no doubt. A quick blast of my horn scared her and she swerved back into her lane.

It's not just Asian women; a few months ago in the CBD I was behind a businessman in a Ferrari weaving left and right at 10kph below the speed limit. Idiot was chattering away on his mobile.

[superyob]

Originally Posted by wrongwaynorris

I am a rep and spend an inordinate amount of time on the phone while driving and have done for 20 odd years now without ( touch wood ) a single accident . If your'e a good driver with good situational awareness and the ability to do more than one thing at a time wheres the problem ? I suspect most people who blame mobile phone usage for accidents they cause may be in a lot of cases looking to diminish their responsibility or just simply not face the fact they are a crap driver . If I had to pull over to the side of the road to make a phone call it would take me a week to do what I now do in half a day .

So does the inconvenience of pulling over to the side of the road override the public's right to safety because you think you are a good driver? Will this self confidence help to ease your conscience if you cause an accident and kill innocent people because you thought you could pay attention to a phone while in control of a one and a half tonne missile doing 100 kph?

Any distraction from the safe operation of a vehicle can and will have negative consequences.

[Ford_The_Win]

In my own stupidity I've nearly lost control of the car because I was texting and drifted onto the shoulder. Never again. I'd be interested to know who paid for the study. Vodaphone? Nokia?

[Streets]

I was on my way to work on a big coach (the trains were offline) yesterday and it's amazing what you see looking down into peoples' cars as they're driving down the motorway. People reading books/magazines, texting, talking on the phone, eating breakfast (with both hands), gesturing wildly to their passenger while steering with their knees, getting dressed, etc. These people need to be clipped over the head and have their licences torn up.

[vztrt]

Yes distraction while driving are always safe.

[TheSneakiness]

I call BS here, I get p!$$ed off quite easily when people impede traffic and majority of the time it's people on phones. Text driving really annoys me.

I wish I could be a UC and pull over these idiots.