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Cell Phone Safety:
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| Recomendations from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration |
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| Updated |
Jul 7, 2004 20:33:55 |
| Rating |
 35 ( -6 -17.14% ) | | Author | NHTSA |
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Description:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's mission is to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce traffic-related health care and other economic costs. The Agency develops, promotes, and implements effective educational, engineering (including human factors engineering), and enforcement programs to prevent or mitigate motor vehicle crashes and reduce economic costs associated with vehicle use and highway travel. It is therefore appropriate that this report concludes with a set of recommendations on promoting the evolution and use of cellular telephone technology that is safe for use while driving.
Improved Data Collection and Reporting
States are encouraged to record the use of a cellular telephone during a crash as part of the normal crash investigation process. This reporting may be accomplished through an expanded set of minimum standard crash data elements being developed by NHTSA and FHWA as enhancements to the Critical Automated Data Reporting Elements (CADRE). This enhanced reporting would greatly improve the ability to characterize the magnitude and nature of any traffic safety problems associated with cellular telephone use while driving.
Information regarding cellular telephone use and crash involvement should be incorporated into telephone surveys. This data gathering could be achieved through the Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey conducted periodically for NHTSA. This survey work could augment crash reporting by the States to provide additional data on public perceptions of and non-crash-related experiences with cellular telephone technology in automobiles over time.
Law enforcement officers are encouraged to note cellular telephone use on warnings or citations for moving violations, such as speeding or reckless operation.
About these Recomendations
The data and information discussed in this report cover a broad range of issues related to the safety of using cellular telephones while driving. It is clear that trends in both cellular technology and patterns of use described in this report have been shown to have both positive and negative implications for safety. It is also evident that significant deficiencies exist in available information and data that prevent a clear and conclusive determination of whether cellular telephone use while driving is a significant safety problem.
Nevertheless, there are some findings and issues that are fundamental to the question of the safety of using cellular telephones while driving. For example, driver inattention, a key outcome of driver distraction, has been implicated in many traffic crashes. While cellular telephones clearly have distraction potential, from many standpoints, such effects may be minimized if drivers are aware of the hazards, are judicious in their use of the technology, and if ergonomically sound cellular telephone designs are used. This highlights the important role the industry can play in consumer education and in ensuring that cellular telephone designs and in-vehicle applications are appropriately implemented.
Furthermore, while safety benefits of cellular telephone use are well recognized, they are not without drawbacks. Solutions must be sought to minimize the burden on emergency response centers from multiple reporting and non-emergency calls, which themselves may place drivers at greater risk.
The deficiencies in cellular telephone related crash data highlight the importance of developing improved data collection strategies. The discussion of these deficiencies points out the care that must be exercised in interpreting the data that is available.
Care must also be exercised in considering the impact of proposed solutions. Thus, while both hands free dialing and hands-free conversation may reduce the risk of a crash for the individual driver, by reducing such risk more drivers may be willing to use the cellular telephone while driving or may be willing to engage in longer conversations. To the extent that conversation itself contributes to risk, the overall impact may be a net loss in safety across the population of cellular telephone users.
Research Review
A review of the research literature and, in particular, a survey of wireless technologies reveal that there were extensive differences between the various wireless communications devices in terms of design features that could influence ease-of-use and hence could potentially impact safety. These "human factors" aspects of the systems encompass specific design considerations related to the display, controls, size, shape, location and other features that can influence the operability of the devices in terms of the demands on the driver. To the extent that these design considerations can influence demands on the driver, it is suggested that industry attention to them may offer significant benefits in reducing risk associated with use of cellular telephone systems.
Conclusion
Finally, the rapid changes in cellular technology and the associated increase in functionality points out that solutions to today's safety issues may not address those of the future. Indeed, future trends, not only with regard to wireless communications, but also within the context of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technologies have the potential to overload the driver. NHTSA is specifically interested in possible synergistic effects of advanced in-vehicle technologies that may impact on highway safety. Such synergistic effects may impact either negatively or positively on safety. A safety-negative impact might arise, for example, if cellular telephone use combined with use of an electronic route guidance system while driving proves too demanding for the driver to handle. On the other hand, a safety-positive synergy might arise between, say, cellular telephone use and a crash avoidance system that alerts the driver to possible crash risks that might arise while the driver is on the telephone. Little is currently known about the synergistic effects of advanced in-vehicle systems on highway safety. NHTSA thus considers it important to develop a better understanding of safety risks that might arise with use of advanced in-vehicle technologies, used both singly and in combination, while driving. NHTSA also seeks to identify opportunities to capitalize on crash avoidance systems that promote the safe use of other in-vehicle technologies that enhance travel efficiency, safety, and satisfaction. Thus, the importance of ergonomic considerations in the design and integration of all in-vehicle technologies must be considered of paramount importance.
What conclusions can be drawn, given the available data? The cogency of a conclusion depends on the adequacy of evidence, the degree to which the conclusion logically follows from the evidence, and the degree to which no relevant information has been omitted from consideration. |
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