Whilst we are busy telling drivers that mobile phone use is a minority , deviant , behaviour they may , of course , be having experiences that tell them the opposite . While observation data suggests that mobile phone use by drivers is relatively low at any one given time ¹, drivers nonetheless report a high frequency of mobile phone use by their fellow road-users ². This may be because seeing someone using their phone is more ‘ cognitively salient ’, ( memorable ) than seeing someone that isn ’ t .
or motivation . The more people we can see pledging the more that behaviour will be seen as the ‘ norm ’. On a basic level , this may also be seen in the number of shares or likes that a social media post gets , or how many people have completed a pledge .
Phone-using drivers may also draw attention to themselves by slowing other drivers down ( research has found those using a mobile phone brake inappropriately ³), by driving erratically , or by missing green traffic lights or opportunities to leave a junction or roundabout . Drivers also just find phone use annoying ( as RAC reports have consistently shown 4 ) and this may be making it seem more common than it may actually be . For this reason , our attempts to show that most people are not actually on their phones when they drive should probably be accompanied by assurances that we are acting to target the ones that are !
Public pledges and social norms
We discuss pledges elsewhere ( see page 102 ), but these can have a social element that relates to the points we are making here . Many innovations encourage individuals to make commitments or contracts in the form of a pledge , for example , ‘ I pledge to never use a mobile phone while driving ’, or they can be a pledge to others , for example , ‘ I pledge to never call X when I know they are driving ’. Pledges are more likely to be kept when they are socially embedded 5 , for example declared to a room full of people or shared through social media . That social audience acts as an additional source of pressure
¹ DfT ( 2015 ). Seat belt and mobile phone use surveys : England and Scotland , 2015 . Statistical release . Available from : https :// assets . publishing . service . gov . uk / government / uploads / system / uploads / attachment _ data / file / 406723 / seatbelt-and-mobile-use-surveys-2014 . pdf ² RAC ( 2018 ). RAC Report on Motoring 2018 . Available from : https :// www . rac . co . uk / pdfs / report-on-motoring / rac10483 _ rom-2018 _ content _ web ³ 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 .
4
RAC ( 2018 ). RAC Report on Motoring 2018 . Available from : https :// www . rac . co . uk / pdfs / report-on-motoring / rac10483 _ rom-2018 _ content _ web
5
Elaheebocus , S . M . R . A ., Weal , M ., Morrison , L . and Yardley , L ., ( 2018 ). Peer-based social media features in behavior change interventions : systematic review . Journal of medical Internet research , 20 ( 2 ).
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