Distracted Driving: Cell Phones

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that nine percent of all drivers at any given time are using cell phones, and the National Safety Council estimates about one in four motor vehicle crashes involve cell phone use at the time of the crash. Cell phone distracted driving has become a serious public health threat. Read more about the impact of cell phones and distracted driving.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has called for a complete ban on cell phone usage while driving, including hands-free devices. Why? Because using your cell phone in any capacity in your car is dangerous to yourself, other motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians.

According to the Washington Post, “Talking on the phone uses some of the same brain space that driving does. So if you’re trying to do both, at least one of them is going to suffer. Talking on a hand-held cellphone slowed drivers’ reactions to seeing a pedestrian enter a crosswalk by 40 percent compared with no conversation.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that nine percent of all drivers at any given time are using cell phones, and the National Safety Council estimates about one in four motor vehicle crashes involve cell phone use at the time of the crash. Cell phone distracted driving has become a serious public health threat. A few states have passed legislation making it illegal to use a handheld cellphone while driving. These laws give the false impression that using a hands-free phone is safe. That means that there is a good chance that we are either one of those cell phone drivers with impaired reaction times or that we will cross paths with someone who is.

When you are driving a car, it requires your full attention. If you are talking on your phone, even if you are using a hands free device, you are distracted. Estimates indicate drivers using cell phones look at but fail to see up to 50 percent of the information in their driving environment.

Bottom line, if you are using the a phone, hands free or not hands free, your reaction time is substantially slower, and you even may be suffering from a phenomenon that scientists call “inattentional blindness”. Inattentional blindness is the surprising failure to notice an unexpected object or event when your attention is focused on something else, e.g., blinking lights on a school bus, a big pothole in the road, or the awareness that you are entering a construction zone and need to slow down. When inattentional blindness occurs, you actually totally miss these big changes or markers or react to them 50 percent slower than you normally would.

We urge to remember before you pick up that call in your car:

The National Safety Council estimates about one in four motor vehicle crashes involve cell phone use at the time of the crash.

The National Safety Council estimates 21 percent of all crashes in 2010 involved talking on cell phones – accounting for 1.1 million crashes that year.

Please #JustDrive and #LoveYourDrive