Facts : Mobile Phones

 

Introduction

Using a mobile phone when driving puts both the car driver, passengers, and those around the car at risk.

When a driver is using a mobile phone, they will pay less attention to the road and will be less able to notice any changes. A substantial body of research has now been built up which shows the chances of being involved in a crash whilst on a phone increases by around fourfold.

Although there is the physical distraction of holding the phone, the main risk is caused by the mental distraction of talking. As this is what causes the driver to lose concentration, hands free phones will not reduce the risk caused by mobiles in a significant way.

The Law

The law states that it is illegal to use a hand held mobile phone while driving, and this includes any activity that involves holding the phone such as dialling a number or writing a text message.

It is also illegal to ”cause or permit” a driver to use a hand held mobile phone, and so your employer can also be held liable if they require you to use a hand held phone whilst driving.

Drivers who are using a hand held or hands free phone could also be charged with ‘failing to have proper control of the vehicle’, depending on the circumstances, and drivers can also be charged with either careless or dangerous driving in severe cases.

Facts and Statistics about Mobile Phone Use

In the most recent surveys, 1 in ever 40 car drivers was talking on either a hand-held or hands-free mobile phone.

Drivers of other vehicles, such as vans, were observed to be using a mobile phone more frequently in the survey, with around 1 in every 30 drivers using a hand-held or hands-free mobile phone.

The graph below shows how mobile phone use has changed over time, with a large reduction following the introduction of legislation in September 2004. However, there is concern that this is starting to creep up again.

 

Mobile phones do have the potential to distract drivers significantly, and the risk of being involved in an accident is increased by four times when using a hand-held or hands-free phone.

When mobile phones started to become common place, data was not available on the number of deaths and injuries caused by mobile phone use, as it was not a factor that police accident investigators recorded. However, RoSPA collected media reported cases of when a mobile phone had caused a fatal of serious injury.

From 2005, the police attending the scene of a crash now record whether a driver was using a mobile phone, and in the first year there were recorded 13 deaths in preventable accidents. This figure does not take into account any deaths caused by drivers using a hands free mobile, and will rise if mobile phone use by drivers continues to become more prevailent.

The Simulator and Mobile Phones

The simulator allows you to compare the length of stopping distances at different speeds, with or without a mobile phone.

The main effect is that the thinking distances are increased significantly by the distraction caused by the mobile phone. The thinking distance shown when mobile phone use is selected is the time it takes a distracted driver to notice a hazard and react, compared to the time it would have taken an alert driver.

The increase is due to the distraction of the mobile phone, drivers using a mobile phone are concentrating less on the hazards of the road. Any observations that a driver using a phone makes tend to be focussed straight ahead, as opposed to thinking about and looking for other hazards around the vehicle - such as a pedestrian stepping out.