Hazards Of Using Hand-free Device & Texting While Driving

By Author: Augustine Joseph
Total Articles: 16
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Use of mobile phone while driving is common, but widely considered very dangerous. Due to the number of accidents that are related to cell phones while driving, some of the jurisdictions have made the use of a cell phone while driving illegal. Others have enacted laws to ban handheld mobile phone use, but allow the use of hands-free device. In some cases restrictions are directed only to minors or those who are newly qualified license holders.

Hands-free device/kit:
While driving using of a hands-free cellular device is not safer than using a hand held cell phone, as concluded by case-crossover studies, epidemic logical simulation, and meta-analysis. The increased cognitive workload involved in holding a conversation, not the use of hands, causes the increased risk.
For example, a Carnegie Mellon University studies found that merely listening to somebody speak on a phone caused a 37% drop in activity in the parietal lobe, where spatial tasks are managed.
The consistency of increased crash risk between hands-free and hand held cell phone use is at odds with legislation in many locations that prohibits ...
... hand held cell phone use but allows hands-free. Nevertheless, dialing a cell phone is more distracting than talking on a cell phone and hands-free devices that offer voice-dialing may reduce or eliminate that increased risk.
Texting:
The scientific literature on the dangers of driving while
*Sending a text message from a mobile phone,
*Texting while driving is limited.
A simulation study at the Monash University Accident Research Centre has provided strong evidence that both retrieving and, in particular, sending text messages has a detrimental effect on a number of critical driving tasks.
Specifically, negative effects were seen in detecting and responding correctly
*To road signs,
*Detecting hazards,
*Time spent with eyes off the road, and
* Using of lateral position for sending text messages.
Surprisingly, mean speed, speed variability, lateral position when receiving text messages and following distance showed no difference.
The low number of scientific studies may be indicative of a general assumption that if talking on a mobile phone increases risk, then texting also increases risk, and probably more so.
A market research by Pinger, a company selling a voice-based alternative to texting conducted a survey which reports that 89% of U.S. adults think that text messaging while driving is distracting, dangerous and should be outlawed.

Texting while driving received greater attention in the late 2000s, corresponding to a rise in the number of text messages being sent. Over a year approximately 2,000 teens die from texting while driving. Texting while driving attracted interest in the media after several highly publicized car crashes were caused by texting drivers.
For example, it includes May 2009 incident involving a Boston trolley car driver who crashed while texting his girlfriend. Texting was blamed in the 2008 Chatsworth train collision which killed 25 passengers. Investigations revealed that the engineer of that train had sent 45 text messages while operating.
An analysis says that –“Text messaging had the greatest relative risk, with drivers being 23 times more likely to experience a safety-critical event when texting. The study also found that drivers typically take their eyes off the forward roadway for an average of four out of six seconds when texting, and an average of 4.6 out of the six seconds surrounding safety-critical events”.

Legislation:
Public Health Law Research maintains a list of distracted driving laws in the United States. This database of laws provides a comprehensive view of the provisions of laws that restrict the use of mobile communication devices while driving for all 50 states and the District of Columbia between 1992, the first law was passed, through December 1, 2010. The dataset contains information on 22 dichotomous, continuous or categorical variables including, for example, activities regulated like texting versus talking, hands-free versus handheld, targeted populations, and exemptions.
Conclusion:
Two types of cell phone behavior typically lead to unsafe driving conditions:
*Handling the phone: dialing, answering, text messaging, etc…
*The conversation introduced to the environment.
Though fumbling with the cell phone is more dangerous activity than your conversation. Think again. That conversation involves quite large chunks of your thought, which according to study simulations sucks the life out of your driving concentration, especially your ability to react when seconds count.
Do Drive Safely & Carefully