Are Cell Phones Driving (You) Crazy

            My eyes are dry and sore this morning. This is the result of burning the candle at both ends, staying up late to study, and staggering out of bed early to get to class for the test I have this morning. I eat breakfast in a groggy daze. This morning it’s the same as every day, cereal, because the preparation time is minimal. I’m not usually awake enough to care about the taste anyway. The television drones on, but I’m too somnambulistic to pay attention to the news. I just keep moving in a lethargic haze in order to make it to class on time.

            As I leave for class, I notice that the mornings are less bright as fall progresses, both from the sun, which has lightened the sky but has not yet cleared the hills, and because of heavy clouds hanging gray and ominous in the sky. Although there are other cars on the road, the traffic moves briskly along the gray pavement. I glance down at the radio, locating the power button. Once upon a time, radio’s had knobs that I could find by feel without taking my eyes off the road, but now they have buttons that all feel the same and I have to find the one I want by sight. The radio station comes on with a commercial. Commercials will not substitute for the sleep I didn’t get, or the coffee that I didn’t have time to drink, as though even if I had managed to feed my addiction, the caffeine could have made it into my veins by now. I look down at the console to find the button for another station, and push it hoping for energetic music in order force my body to substitute adrenalin for sleep. When I look up, the truck ahead of me has red brake lights showing like the eyes of a serpent about to strike, and the distance is closing fast. I brake hard, and the car slows abruptly. My car surges backwards as I come to a stop, and I sit behind the wheel suddenly much more awake than I was seconds ago, and wonder, how long does it take to dial eleven numbers on a cell phone?

            While doing my research for this essay, I was surprised to discover that the problem with driving while talking on a cell phone is only partially due to dialing the numbers. Surveys and studies using driving simulators have shown that most drivers are aware of the consequences of taking their eyes off the road to dial the numbers, and therefore do so only when they feel that traffic or road conditions will permit them to divert their attention long enough to dial the numbers in safety (Goodman et al.). In fact, they are usually weaving in their lanes while dialing, a situation that other drivers around them are aware of, although they themselves are not aware of it. The use of hands free cell phones with voice recognition software has been touted as a safety feature for users of cell phones, and while it may lower the danger associated with the dialing portion of using cell phones, hands free devices do not lower the risk of being in a collision (Redelmeier and Tibishirani). You are still four times more likely to be in a collision while using a cell phone when compared to not using one.

            The real problem comes not from dialing the numbers, nor in being startled by the ringing of the phone and losing control, but in the purpose for using a cell phone. The cognitive effort of carrying on a conversation diverts attention away from monitoring the road and traffic around you (Strayer and Johnston). A University of Utah study documented that talking on a cell phone made drivers four times more likely to miss an exit than drivers talking to passengers, and twelve times as likely to miss an exit as drivers who had their mouths shut (Cell/Insurance). Another study found that drivers who were talking on their cell phones were twice as likely to miss a traffic signal, and had slower reaction times (Strayer and Johnston). These findings from traffic simulators compare well with crash analysis data in which the most common accident attributed to cell phone use is a rear end collision (Stutts et al.), the likelihood of which increases two fold when using a cell phone (Stutts et al.). A likely cause of rear ending someone appears to be failure to reduce speed, as the chance of being cited for failure to reduce speed following a crash also increases two fold (Stutts el al.). Similarly, you are five times as likely to be cited for a traffic light violation resulting in a crash while using a cell phone (Stutts et al.). In the United Kingdom, the Transportation Research Laboratory found that drivers using cell phones had longer stopping distances even than drunk drivers (Brits). Because the most serious problem caused by using a cell phone while driving is that the very act of carrying on a conversation diverts mental activity away from the road, the use of hands free devices does not lower the increased risk (Redelmeier and Tibishirani). Most legislation in the United States, either in place or proposed, bans the use of hand held cell phones, but does not ban the use of hands free cell phones, and as a result, does not truly address the problem.

            Most studies have concluded that dialing a cell phone while driving is comparable in danger to tuning a radio (Goodman et al.). I certainly wouldn’t suggest that radios or compact disc players, or tape decks for those of us driving cars old enough to have them, should be banned. I would argue that the benefits of playing music on my long solo trips down the Interstate Highway to keep me awake outweigh any dangers posed by tuning the radio or changing tapes. I know the road very well by now, and the basalt scab rock with occasional sagebrush wasn’t all that interesting to look at in the first place. I can remember falling asleep on that very road on a hot summers day, long ago, when I didn’t have air conditioning, and didn’t have a radio in the car. That was one time I was thankful for another drivers blaring horn as I awoke to find my car astride the centerline. I was also thankful for the next rest stop, one that no longer exists. But does the fact that we already permit one risk factor mean that we have to allow another factor of equal risk?

I would also argue in defense of radios in cars, claiming that I don’t listen all that carefully. I notice that I tune the music out much of the time. The radio seems to be more important as a varying source of noise overriding the monotonous drone of the tires and the whistle of the wind. This is something that you don’t do when you are engaged in a phone call. You have to be listening to the other party.

Everyone who has purchased auto insurance knows that there is a discount for non-smokers because smokers are more likely to lose control of their cars. This could occur while they were looking down to find the cigarette lighter and push it in, but that at least occurres at a time of their choosing. This is similar to choosing to dial a cell phone only when you feel the road conditions are safe enough. The driver could also loose control when the lighter suddenly popped out, by which time the traffic or road conditions could have changed. The effect could be compared to being startled by a suddenly ringing phone. I suspect that the most likely time for smokers to loose control is probably when they were actually lighting their cigarettes. Picture the fact that they are trying to guide a red-hot lighter to the end of their cigarette. They have to put all of their concentration onto the motor reflexes to make the two meet. If they aren’t paying attention, they might be trying to join lighter and cigarette until the lighter cools off. Even more likely, if they aren’t focusing all of their concentration on lighting their cigarette they could brand themselves with the lighter, something I’m sure they are very aware of. While all of their concentration is focused on not getting scorched, they are traveling down the road at 80 miles an hour or failing to notice that a light has changed. Just as the smoker is focused on the red hot lighter, the cell phone user is focused on the conversation they are having and not on their driving.

Drivers in some foreign countries, including the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic, can use cell phones while driving, but face increased fines if involved in an accident while driving under the influence of a phone (Cell/Insurance). Drivers in the United Kingdom and Germany can also have their driver’s insurance revoked if they are involved in an accident while using their phone (Cell/Insurance). Should insurance companies in the United States consider higher insurance rates for cell phone users as they do for smokers? In a North Carolina study, 50% of drivers in crashes who were using a cell phone were cited for a traffic violation (using a cell phone was not illegal, so the citation was for something else), while only 7.5% of drivers not using a cell phone were cited (Stutts et al.). Drivers are four times as likely to be in a crash while using a cell phone as when not (Redelmeier and Tibshurani). Surly the rate should be higher for cell phone users, but how could the insurance industry enforce such a differential rate? Cell phones don’t leave the aroma of smoke to make the insurance agent suspect which category to place the client in if they didn’t tell the truth.

In the United States, New York was the first state to ban the use of hand held cell phones while driving in 2001 (Cell/Insurance). In the time since it was passed, over 270,000 citations have been issued (Nation’s). Similar legislation has also been enacted in New Jersey and the District of Columbia (Cell/Insurance, Nation’s). The bans have been strongly supported, even among cell phone users (Cell/Insurance). Opponents of cell phone bans point out that cell phone use while driving in New York initially declined following the ban, the use climbed to pre ban levels after two years. Proponents use data from Connecticut to suggest that the ban in New York kept the level lower than it would have been (Cell/Insurance ). Several other states are considering legislation banning the use of cell phones by inexperienced drivers, but the trend is not all in the banning direction. Pennsylvania decided against banning the use of cell phones while driving, citing figures indicating that only a tiny fraction of crashes were related to cell phones (Pennsylvania). In fact, while the number of crashes in rural areas went up when using a cell phone, only 0.16% of crashes could be attributed to cell phones (Stutts et al.).

Several foreign countries prohibit or restrict cell phone use while driving. The list exceeds 40 countries and ranges from Norway in the North, to Chile in the South, from developed countries like France, to less developed countries, and includes countries where the main religion is Christianity, Islam, and Judaism (Cell/Insurance, Irish, No hands-free). Most of the countries in Western Europe have some restriction on the use of cell phones while driving, but then recent events have demonstrated that the United States doesn’t pay much attention to the opinions of European governments, and not all countries have joined the rush to ban the use of cell phones while driving. Last year, New Zealand decided not to enact a ban citing enforcement problems (New Zealand).

            Many years ago, when cell phones only existed as Star Trek communicators or Dick Tracey’s two-way wrist TV, my sister hit a rock while we were returning to college. It was winter, the night was completely dark, and the road was covered in a thin film of water from the melting snow, which would soon freeze into black ice. The storm that had left a heavy blanket of snow on the ground was still blanketing the heavens, blocking any moonlight that might have been available. The black shiny road also had black shiny rocks about the size of cantaloupes which had fallen from the road cutting on the side. She didn’t see the rock she hit, nor did I, but we felt it. The left front tire had been blown, and the rim was bent. This however, did not initially pose a problem to me. I may not be all that mechanically inclined, but I have changed a few tires in my time. We removed the spare tire and jack from the trunk. Then we ran into a problem. The axel jack did not have a driver. My brother had once owned the car, and he carried some tools with him everywhere, including a ratchet, which he used on the jack. When my brother sold the car to my father, he took his tools. So there we were, parked in the right lane of a four lane highway because there was no shoulder, on a dark and stormy night, miles from civilization like most places in Idaho are, after the service stations were all closed. The story this time didn’t turn out so bad, as a highway patrol officer came by, used his radio to call someone I knew, who promptly drove out with a jack. We replaced the tire, and continued on our merry way. Without the officer, it would have been a long, cold night with occasional cars meandering by inches away at the official speed of 55 miles per hour, hoping that one kindly soul would stop and offer me a ride into the nearest town, hoping that I could get a tow truck late on a Sunday night.

            Cell phones have changed the situation for stranded motorists. I bought my wife a cell phone in the mid 1990’s to enable her to call the California State Automobile Association if her car quit running. One typical sunny day in Daly City (a typical Daly City day being pea soup fog) she was on a cloverleaf when her car suddenly stopped. In addition to short visibility due to the fog, the road went under the highway before curving sharply into the cloverleaf. Even on a clear day, the speeding drivers would have been on top of her before they saw her. The cloverleaf also climbed steeply up onto the highway above, so when her engine quit there was no coasting to a safe place. She had moved to the outside of the curve when her car died, and although several cars sped by they were always keeping to the inside of the curve. Equally fortunate, she had a cell phone she could use to call a tow truck and have her car removed before someone hit her. How different my wife’s situation was from the situation my sister and I had found ourselves in all those years before.

            On another occasion, my wife was driving home when she heard a loud pop from the front of her car, and it stopped responding to the accelerator. The engine was working, but the drive shaft wasn’t engaged. She again used her phone to summon a wrecker. A short time later, the highway patrol came by, only to be informed that she had already called a tow truck. With a promise to swing by later, the officer left, looking for someone else not fortunate enough to have a cell phone. As far as I was concerned, these two calls justified any monthly charges I had to pay for the cell phone.

            In my wife’s case, she made her calls while parked. However, there are times when it is necessary to call while driving. There is the report of Steven Elmore. Steven and his family had narrowly missed being killed after being struck by a drunk drivers months before. One evening, Steven noticed that the vehicle he was following was being driving erratically, and he became alarmed when the driver tossed a beer bottle out of the window. Steven called 911 on his cell phone. The operator not only asked for a description of the vehicle, but also asked him to stay with the vehicle to report the location points so that police could quickly locate and pull him over (Fraschini). In this situation, even the police condone the use of a cell phone while driving.

            Most people don’t deny that cell phones can be useful at times, or even that under a few circumstances cell phones can be valuable while driving. But a Department of Transportation report in 1997 went even further: “Americans spend substantial amounts of time commuting and members of the public place high importance on keeping up with their tasks and activities. It is therefore not surprising that individuals will attempt to optimize their time in the automobile by doing other things concurrently. It may be unrealistic and perhaps ill-advised to conclude that drivers should have no advanced in-vehicle information systems at their disposal because they might be a source of distraction.” (Goodman et al. 5). I can understand their concerns. While living in California, I commuted an hour each way to work. By the time I spent 10 to 12 hours at work (and my boss demanded more), and two hours commuting, I didn’t have time for anything other than a quick supper when I arrived home. I was also criticized in writing because while on vacation in Australia I didn’t call the company I worked for. I was on bus tours and an Island with no phones, but my boss was still very upset that he couldn’t control all my time, even when on vacation. I can understand the feeling by individuals in the sales field, who feel pressured to be available at all times, a feeling that I am sure is re-enforced by their supervisors. However, there is movement in the other direction. In July 2004, the California Association of Employers recommended that employers require their employees to get off the road in order to make their business calls. Perhaps education by the news media about the risks of driving people crazy by using cell phones while driving is causing some people to think about their actions. Policies aimed at reducing business calls while driving will have to get management on side in order to be effective.

            Why do we focus on cell phones so heavily, instead of focusing on inattentive driving? The American Automobile Association of Washington feels that it is just because cell phones are visible (Drive). They feel that it is harder to see when someone is tuning the radio. Is that the reason? Do we snap at poor drivers after a near miss as “#! Cell phone user!” the same way some people snap “Women drivers!”  or “Volvo drivers!” Is the increasing use of cell phones while driving causing a noticeable deterioration in driving skills? If the problem is real, can we actually stop this one source of distraction, or will it be doomed to failure like the 55 mph speed limit and Prohibition? Will education and encouragement from management discourage and diminish the use of cell phones while driving? Like most public policy arguments, there are a lot of opinions.

Works Cited

 “Brits may get really tough on mobile phones.” 20 Aug. 2002. 9 Nov. 2004. Abstract. http://www.drivers.com/article/574/

“Cell Phones and Driving.” Insurance Information Institute. 9 Nov. 2004. http://iiidev.iii.org/media/hottopics/insurance/cellphones/

“Cell phones and driving slammed by new research.” 17 May 2002. 9 Nov. 2004. Abstract. http://www.drivers.com/article/548

“Drive Safer, Talk Later. The AAA Guide to Cell Phones and Driving.” American Automobile Association of Washington. 9 Nov. 2004. http://www.aaawa.com/traffic_safety/cell_phones.html

Fraschini, Luigi. “The other side of cell phone safety.” Driving Today 28 Nov. 2001. 9 Nov. 2004. http://www.drivers.com/article/488/

Goodman, M., F.D. Bents, L. Tijerina, W. Wierwille, N. Lerner, and D. Benel. “An Investigation of the Safety Implications of Wireless Communications in Vehicles.” Report No. DOT HS 808-635. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Nov. 1997. 9 Nov. 2004. http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/research/wireless/

“Irish ban hand-held phones.” 22 Mar. 2002. 9 Nov. 2004. Abstract. http://www.drivers.com/article/525/

“Nation’s capital bars hand-held mobiles while driving.” CNN.com. 2004. 9 Nov. 2004. http://cnn.allpolitics/printthis.clickability.com/pt/

“New Zealand refuses to ban cell phones.” 5 Jan. 2003. 9 Nov. 2004. Abstract. http://www.drivers.com/article/609

“No hands-free phone for most Swedish drivers.” 2 Mar. 2004. 9 Nov. 2004. Abstract. http://www.drivers.com/article/669/

“Pennsylvania drops cell phone ban.” 6 Mar. 2002. 9 Nov. 2004. Abstract. http://www.drivers.com/article/517/

Redelmeier, Donald A. and Robert J. Tibshirani. “Association between cellular-telephone calls and motor vehicle collisions.” New England Journal of Medicine 336 (1997): 453-458. 6 Nov. 2004. Abstract. Highwire Press. http://highwire.Stanford.edu

Strayer, David L. and William A. Johnston. “Driven to Distraction: Dual-Task Studies of Simulated Driving and Conversing on a Cellar Telephone.” Psychological Science 12(2001):462-466.

Stutts, Jane C., Herman F. Huang, and William W. Hunter. Cell Phone Use While Driving in North Carolina: 2002 Update Report. The University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center. Dec. 2002.