New AAA Cellular Safety Study: Hands-Free No Safer

The AAA has released a new study that says—surprise!—using a cellular telephone while driving can be dangerous and using a hands-free device doesn’t help. I’ll talk about the ham radio aspect of this in a moment, but here are key points from the study:

• Studies using driving simulators have found that using a cell phone while driving significantly impairs several aspects of driving performance, principally reaction time.
• Studies of the cell phone records of crash-involved drivers suggest that using a cell phone while driving is associated with roughly a quadrupling of crash risk.
• Two out of every three drivers believe that using a hands-free cell phone while driving is safer than using a hand-held phone; however, the overwhelming majority of available evidence suggests that it is not.
• Over half of all drivers admit using a cell phone while driving at least occasionally; 16–17% report doing so regularly.
• Younger people report higher levels of cell phone use while driving than older people do; however, the proportion of drivers aged 35 to 44 who report using cell phones while driving is not significantly lower than the proportion of drivers ages 18 to 24 who report doing so.
• One in seven drivers admits to text messaging while driving.
• Younger people are overwhelmingly more likely than older people to text message while driving— nearly half of survey respondents aged 18 to 24 admit doing so, whereas fewer than 5% of drivers aged 45 and older admit doing so.
• More than four out of five drivers rate drivers using cell phones as a serious or extremely serious traffic safety problem, over half say that it is unacceptable, and one in seven even mention reducing or eliminating driver cell phone use in an open-ended question seeking ideas for ways to prevent motor vehicle crashes. Drivers who express these attitudes are less likely than average to report using a cell phone while driving; however between 29% and 46% of these same drivers report that they themselves have used a cell phone while driving at least occasionally in the past month.

You can download a PDF version of the 15-page report here.

What does this have to do with ham radio?

Gee, how many times (just yesterday) did I grab the microphone and talk on a repeater while driving? Or pay attention to something on the fire scanner radio? Maybe more attention than I paid to my driving? I hope not.

I am not sure I’d like to see the results of a study into ham radio use and driving safety. My bet is that since we tend to be older, we have fewer accidents than most drivers regardless of what we’re doing. But, maybe not.

My hope is that armed with an understanding of the risks involved that we can pay special attention to our driving at all times, not just when using the radio, and reduce or risk of accident regardless of what we’re doing. I try to drive as though whatever is ahead of me is about to come to a dead stop/jump into the road/create some sort of an emergency.

My last accident was more than 20 years ago (and I wasn’t at fault) and I don’t think I’ve had a ticket in that long, either. Spending some time thinking about how ham radio might negatively impact our driving may be the best way to make sure that it doesn’t.

Overview from the Report

Here is the overview of the report that appears on its first page:

A growing body of research suggests that using a mobile telephone while driving increases a driver’s risk of being involved in a crash. Studies that have analyzed the cell phone records of crash-involved drivers have reported that using a cell phone while driving is associated with roughly a quadrupling of crash risk. Studies using driving simulators have also found that cell phone use significantly impairs several aspects of driving performance, principally reaction time.

Studies comparing the risks associated with using hand-held and hands-free cell phones while driving have found them indistinguishable—both increase risk. Meanwhile, available data shows that the number of cell phone subscribers, and the proportion of drivers using cell phones, is increasing.

This research update presents new data from the AAA Foundation’s Traffic Safety Culture Index, a nationally-representative telephone survey of the American public, on drivers’ cell phone use and their attitudes toward distracted driving, as well as data on driver cell phone use from a recent omnibus survey conducted for the AAA Foundation.

Results show that over half of U.S. drivers report having used a cell phone while driving in the past 30 days, and one in seven even admits to text messaging while driving. Young drivers were found to be overwhelmingly more likely than older drivers to text message, and somewhat more likely to talk on cell phones while driving; however, the proportion of drivers aged 35 to 44 who report talking on cell phones while driving is not significantly lower than the proportion of drivers aged 18 to 24 who report doing so.

Higher levels of education were also found to be associated with higher levels of cell phone use and text messaging while driving.

A substantial proportion of the American public believes that drivers using cell phones are a serious traffic safety problem and that it is unacceptable to use a cell phone while driving. Respondents who express negative attitudes toward cell phone use while driving were found to be somewhat less likely to use cell phones while driving; however, a substantial proportion of respondents who express negative attitudes toward using a cell phone while driving still admit doing so at least occasionally.

About two-thirds of drivers who use cell phones while driving believe that it is safer to talk on a hands-free cell phone than on a hand-held cell phone; however, the overwhelming majority of available evidence suggests that it is not.