Introduction
The debate on the effects of cell phones use in driving has been one of the most prominent discussions globally. The use of mobile phones while one is driving has been blamed for several road accidents and ultimately loss of lives. All over the world, people are trying to come up with measures and strategies to curb and to reduce road carnages. One of the most successful measures in this endeavor has been banning the use of cell phones among motorists. This paper seeks to prove that cell phone use on the roads can affect the psychology of a motorist and compromise his or her judgment and ability to make decisions while on the road.
Current Research
According to the current research from different areas in the world, it has been estimated that 1-4% of the world’s drivers use their mobile phones while driving at any particular moment (Kao, Higginson, Seymour, Kamerdze, & Higginson, 2015). The use of mobile phones in the car is a major cause of destruction among drivers and it should be stopped. Drivers can be destructed in a number of ways if they used their mobile phones while driving. They can be physically, visually, auditory, or cognitively destructed (Kao et al., 2015).
When the phone rings, the driver has to use one of hinds to receive the call. This makes him or her to lose his focus and to concentrate on the phone other than maintaining high alert while driving. Visually, the driver has to look who is calling, or while dialing he or she has to look for the contact he or she intends to call. This shifts his or her eye contact from the road as he or she looks at the mobile phone (Klauer, Guo, Simons-Morton, Ouimet, Lee, & Dingus, 2014).
This is even worse when the driver is reading or writing a text message while driving. Research has shown that even is the drivers eyes are on the road at such a moment, they only look but they do not see (Klauer et al., 2014). Auditory, when on phone, drivers shift their focus to the sound of the phone instead of listening to the adjoining atmosphere on the road (Klauer et al., 2014). This robs them the ability to notice if there is a car near or around them therefore increasing the chances of crashing.
Lastly, the cognitive effect of mobile usage while driving is seen when drivers are conversing over the phone. Listening to the phone and the conversation makes the brain to lose focus. Drivers will pay more attention to the dialogue on the phone (Lepp, 2014). At this point, brain activity is reduced and the decision making ability compromised. At this state, it becomes very easy to cause an accident. Current research has demonstrated that listening alone reduces activity in the part of the brain responsible for driving by a third (Lepp, 2014).
Policy Recommendations
As a result of the aforementioned implications of driving while on phone, we recommend a complete ban. The use of hand free has been supported by a number of people as a safer mode but research has shown that it interferes with the driver’s attention. Therefore, a complete ban on the use cell phones while driving is the only sure way to reduce destruction on the roads. Drivers must not be allowed to use their phones for any reason while driving along the highways or any other busy roads. Addition, measures to make sure that drivers abide by this rule must also be set. For instance, more police check points can be set up and highway cameras erected in strategic places.
Future Research
Future research should focus on how road safety can be enhanced through reducing the use of cell phones on roads. To be specific, text messaging should be the main focus in future studies. A number of studies have shown that text messages while driving have the greatest impacts on drivers attentiveness (Lepp, Barkley & Karpinski, 2014).some the implications associated with texting while driving include heightened mental workload, physical destructions as well as the visual destructions. While texting, a visual confirmation of the text content needed. In addition, the driver is still thinking on what to say and at the same time he or she must keep his eye on the road.
This multitasking is a maximum utilization of the human brain and the ultimate effect is the increase in the mental workload (Lepp, Barkley & Karpinski, 2014). Text messaging cause’s drivers to spend 400% more time with their eyes away from the road compared to normal driving (Lepp, Barkley & Karpinski, 2014). While the use of hand-free mode has been advocated as a safer way of cell phone use while driving, research proves that this is not the case. According to current research on this subject, there are no notable safety advantages of using the hands free mode (Lepp, Barkley & Karpinski, 2014). The point it that the driver’s attentiveness is impaired compared to the normal driving mode and this is a danger already.
Conclusion
This paper has outlined a number of effects of cell phone use on the roads. It has broken down these effects into four major states which include the physical, cognitive, auditory, and the visual state. According to this paper, the main recommendation to the problem of cell phone use is a complete ban. The paper also gives a recommendation on the future research topics including the effects of texting on drivers’ ability to concentrate. According to this research, there are no safer ways of using cell phones while driving. This is because the effects of cell phone use are the same regardless of the mode. It interferes with the driver’s ability to concentrate and this increases the chances of an accident to occur.
References
Burger, N. E., Kaffine, D. T., & Yu, B. (2014). Did California’s hand-held cell phone ban reduce accidents? Transportation research part A: policy and practice, 66, 162-172.
Kao, P. C., Higginson, C. I., Seymour, K., Kamerdze, M., & Higginson, J. S. (2015). Walking stability during cell phone use in healthy adults. Gait & posture, 41(4), 947-953.
Klauer, S. G., Guo, F., Simons-Morton, B. G., Ouimet, M. C., Lee, S. E., & Dingus, T. A. (2014). Distracted driving and risk of road crashes among novice and experienced drivers. New England journal of medicine, 370(1), 54-59.
Lepp, A. (2014). Exploring the relationship between cell phone use and leisure: an empirical analysis and implications for management. Managing Leisure, 19(6), 381-389.
Lepp, A., Barkley, J. E., & Karpinski, A. C. (2014). The relationship between cell phone use, academic performance, anxiety, and satisfaction with life in college students. Computers in Human Behavior, 31, 343-350.