Technology vs Technology
Competing against the range of technologies that
actually generate distraction within vehicles, are
another type of technologies that can be used to
reduce distraction. We know it can be hard to generate
normative compliance with laws and rules, and that
instrumental compliance is costly and resource
intensive to achieve (see 59), so a physical means
of prevention starts to look attractive. These include
signal-blocking pouches that prevent a phone from
receiving a signal (just search for ‘signal blocking
pouch’ on Amazon to see the range), ‘Faraday cages’
(such as that installed in some Nissans), as well as
downloadable mobile phone applications which
prevent distracting alerts from being communicated
to the driver (plenty are available in places like App
Store). In addition to phone Apps, many mobile phone
manufacturers now include ‘driving’ settings, which
drivers can activate once to apply automatically, or
activate each time they drive. Some applications restrict
the ability for notifications to ‘get through’ to a driver,
whereas others allow driver behaviour to be tracked/
monitored by parents, loved ones or employers. elsewhere, an App that detects driving and activates
itself automatically has the advantage of being a one-
time action that can ‘immunise’ a driver for some time to
come, whereas a pouch (or planning to ‘make the glove
compartment the phone compartment’) requires the
driver to remember, and decide, to act every time they
drive (a source of “friction” to use the behavioural change
terminology). This increases the possibility that they
may forget or choose not to perform such strategies in
particular circumstances or on certain occasions.
Different Apps offer different forms of restriction or
blocking. The iPhone ‘Do not disturb while driving’
setting allows calls to be sent via a car’s Bluetooth,
but can block texts and send an automatic response.
This seems to indicate that their primary purpose is to
encourage legal phone use, rather than safe phone use.
This contrasts to technologies such as signal blocking
pouches that simply restrict all activity until a mobile
phone is taken out of the pouch. iOS/Apple ‘Do Not Disturb’ setting
A study in the US found that the ‘Do not disturb
while driving’ function reduced smartphone use by
drivers by 8%. This doesn’t sound that impressive,
but the US does seem to have a different culture of
phone use to the UK, with 92% of US drivers using
their phone at the wheel 1 . Not much is known
about the effects of the setting in the UK yet.
A different study found that 54% of young drivers
favoured automatic phone locking while driving as
a way of preventing them using their phones, 47%
favoured e-mail notifications to parents and 42%
favoured automated responses to incoming texts 2 .
These approaches have their pros and cons, but
we do think that they deserve to be amongst the
strategies that are promoted to drivers. As we’ve said
1
Owen, M (2018) Apple’s iPhone ‘Do Not Disturb While Driving’ feature helping to reduce dangerous habits. Apple Insider Available at https://appleinsider.
com/articles/18/04/18/iphone-do-not-disturb-while-driving-feature-helps-reduce-usage-at-the-wheel-study-shows
2
Delgado, M.K.,et al (2018). Attitudes on technological, social, and behavioral economic strategies to reduce cellphone use among teens while driving.
Traffic injury prevention, pp.1-8.
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