Hello ?! Hello ?! Are you still there ? Hello ?!
“ Hands-free is just the same as talking to a passenger , and no-one ’ s trying to stop us doing that !
Hands-free use
The 2003 law , as we have seen , relates only to handheld mobile phone use . But much research has shown that there is no difference between handheld and hands-free use in terms of the distraction they cause ¹. Both actions cause individuals to brake inappropriately ², swerve between lanes ³ and otherwise drive inappropriately 4 . It is the cognitive ( mental ) distraction that interferes with the driving task , rather than simply the physical act of ‘ holding ’ a phone 5 .
The real extent of hands-free use is unknown - it ’ s technically legal so not really recorded , and it ’ s much more difficult to observe than handheld use . When we focus our activities on enforcing or educating about the law , we risk pushing people towards hands-free mobile phone use as a legal , though dangerous , alternative . This means that we have to make sure that we educate about distraction , rather than just educate about the law .
¹ Strayer , D . L ., Turrill , J ., Cooper , J . M ., Coleman , J . R ., Medeiros-Ward , N . and Biondi , F ., 2015 . Assessing cognitive distraction in the automobile . Human factors , 57 ( 8 ), pp . 1300-1324 .
² Haque , M . M . and Washington , S ., 2015 . The impact of mobile phone distraction on the braking behaviour of young drivers : a hazard-based duration model . Transportation research part C : emerging technologies , 50 , pp . 13-27 .
³ Owens , J . M ., McLaughlin , S . B . and Sudweeks , J ., 2011 . Driver performance while text messaging using handheld and in-vehicle systems . Accident Analysis & Prevention , 43 ( 3 ), pp . 939-947 .
4
Horrey , W . J . and Wickens , C . D ., 2006 . Examining the impact of cell phone conversations on driving using meta-analytic techniques . Human factors , 48 ( 1 ), pp . 196-205 .
5
Burns , P . C ., Parkes , A ., Burton , S ., Smith , R . K . and Burch , D ., 2002 . How Dangerous is Driving with a Mobile Phone ?: Benchmarking the Impairment to Alcohol ( Vol . 547 ). TRL .
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