First, it should be pointed out that the availability of a mobile phone in a car is of great value in emergencies and accidents. However, the results from many different studies show that using a mobile phone in a car while driving impairs driving performance significantly. This is because a driver’s attention to surrounding traffic and traffic information is impaired and his control of the car becomes less precise and smooth when talking on a phone. Not only the physical fine motor-responses needed for phoning disturb driving, but also the conversation itself and, in particular, demanding conversations impair both attention and manoeuvring performance significantly. Therefore, handsfree mobile phones will not solve the safety problem of phoning and driving. Analyses of accidents have shown that the impairment of driving while phoning leads to an increased risk of having an accident both for hand-held and handsfree phones. It is possible to view mobile phones in traffic as a narrow, isolated problem area, one without a broader traffic-related and social perspective. Based on that assumption, the only reasonable measure would be a total ban. However, the SNRA considers it both desirable and necessary to view mobile phones in a wider context, and therefore does not recommend a total ban. However, the SNRA does want to advise drivers against simultaneous phoning and driving, as the activity does involve a higher risk both for the driver and other road users. If using a mobile phone is necessary, the driver must take the utmost care and be aware of the impairment in driving performance that a distraction such as a phone conversation represents for the driver in a road traffic situation. The inquiry has to date found no clear advantages in using handsfree mobile phones while driving. What is clear is that it is the conversation and its complexity per se that give rise to adverse changes in the driver’s ability to drive due to increased mental workload and distraction, rather than the type of phone system being used. We are therefore unable to suggest requirements on handsfree mobile phones, as there is no scientific evidence to support the idea that they would lead to an improvement in road traffic safety. On the contrary, empirical studies have shown that drivers using hand-held phones have adapted (reduced) their speed, whereas those using handsfree phones have not. The lack of a behaviour to compensate for the effect of a phone call, such as a reduction in speed, is seen in the study as detrimental to road traffic safety. However, according to the subjective reports drivers using handsfree systems generally believed that they did reduce (adapt) their speed, even though in actual fact they did not. The precise reason behind this (mis)conception is uncertain, but there is unarguably reason to believe that a driver can be led into a false sense of security. The SNRA does not wish to advise drivers against using mobile phones equipped for handsfree usage. They generally have the advantage of being easy to find as they are fixed in place, so the driver avoids having to search around for the phone in his/her pocket, bag or some other unspecific place. Moreover, handsfree equipment can provide a greater flexibility for the driver in the handling of the vehicle e.g. changing gear, indicating. Nevertheless, the driver must always be aware of the distraction that any type of mobile phone can represent. One potential premise might be to distinguish between phoning while driving on rural roads, and phoning while driving in built-up areas. However, the simulator study has not been able to identify any advantage between handsfree and hand-held mobile phones: the drivers’ performance was equally ‘poor’ regardless of system type. Clearly, the traffic environment in an urban area is generally far more complex than on a rural road or motorway. This means that the increased mental workload which causes a driver simply to ‘miss’ information, particularly peripherally presented information such as road markings, is affected to a lesser extent in the relatively low complexity of a rural road. In built-up areas the road systems are more complex, and contain pedestrians, crossings, traffic lights, higher traffic intensity and other factors within a smaller area than on rural roads. The indications are that even in built-up areas, it is the conversation itself that is the problem. We can with great certainty state that the driver’s ability to drive safely on the roads is adversely affected when speaking on the phone. Even other activities can distract or impair the driver such as conversing with passengers, eating, smoking, adjusting the car stereo, sending text messages, watching a movie, etc. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting