SWOV homepage
Nederlands  

Using car phones while driving is undesirable

 

SWOV has carried out a literature study (R-98-41) concerning the effect of telephoning while driving on road safety. The use of the telephone in the car has increased dramatically in recent years. The telecom industry expects that by the end of the year 2000, four million cellular telephones will be in use; the percentage of hands free installations is not known.

 

Questions have been raised in the Dutch House of Parliament in regard to the possible added road safety risks of telephoning while driving, and in case of increased risks, which possibilities should be employed to limit these risks. From the literature consulted, it appears that research has been conducted into the 'telephoning while driving' phenomenon in various ways, methods ranging from various forms of simulation to driving under actual traffic conditions.

 

Effect on the driving task

The various studies show that telephoning while driving interferes with driving tasks and therefore has a negative effect on the performance of driving tasks. This concerns both hand-held and hands-free telephoning, although hand-held telephoning appears to have a greater negative effect on driving tasks than does hands-free telephoning.

 

Effect on accidents

Until lately, attempts to show a relationship between telephoning while driving and the risk of accidents, were known to have been undertaken in only two studies. These studies (having some methodological restrictions) show that telephoning while driving at least doubles the chance of being involved in an accident.

From a recent German research report no conclusions could be drawn on the safety consequences.

 

Telephoning while driving a car is undesirable

On the basis of data now available, SWOV concludes that telephoning while driving a car is undesirable. This applies to all forms of telephone use and vehicle operation. Manually searching (in the telephone's built-in memory) and dialling a telephone number, as well as hand-held telephoning should be classified as being especially risky. Aggravating circumstances are: heavy traffic, poor weather, complex traffic situations and attention demanding conversations. The additional mental burden associated with telephoning activities is usually underestimated by the driver and is not sufficiently compensated for by taking such measures as driving more slowly and maintaining a greater vehicle spacing.

Prohibiting the use of hand held telephones while driving will benefit road safety. Upholding a legal ban on hand-held telephoning would be reasonably feasible; doing so for hands-free telephoning, on the other hand, would be almost impossible.

On the basis of available data and some assumptions, the number of traffic victims under the condition of telephoning while driving, is estimated for the Netherlands to be 15 killed and more than 100 injured persons.

Similar activities, too, such as faxing and e-mailing while driving, should be seen as undesirable.

Several alternative services and systems are being offered that include voice-mail (similar to an answering device) and through connection of phone-calls. These products remove the need for telephoning during driving while ensuring that the driver can still be contacted. A very recent development is voice-dialling in which a number can be selected by means of speech command.

 

Recommendations

The following recommendations are given:

SWOV Research Activities 11 - March 1999

Knowledge base