On the Road, Off the Phone

SMS, or "short message service" refers to small, text based communication between mobile phones. It is commonly referred to as "texting", and if CTIA's U.S. statistics have anything to say about it, it is quite popular, with around 1.56 Trillion messages sent in 2009 [1].

That's right, 1.56 Trillion in the United States alone. And the numbers are only growing.

But with this many messages being sent, where are they being sent from? We will focus on one specific place where they should never be sent from, a car. According to the National Safety Council, 28% of  yearly automobile accidents are the result of lack of attention by drivers due to mobile phone usage, with about 200,000 accidents directly caused by texting [2]. Responding to a text message, a driver must look down and read the message, then, should they choose, reply to it. During this, the driver diverts attention from the the road to use their hand to access their mobile device, and their eyes to read what it says. In some situations, this small loss of attention can lead to a major accident. A driver many only look away for a few seconds, but many drivers underestimate just how much distance they travel in this time.

Let's think about this in a little more detail. Let's assume you are driving on a major road, but not a highway, traveling at 45 miles per hour. You receive a text message and glance down to read it. It takes you only two seconds to pick up your phone and access the message, then another two seconds to read what it says and who it is from. You have now been looking away from the road for about 4 seconds. This is a very small amount of time, but just what has happened as you read your message? Let's look at the numbers. I am more familiar when considering distances to use feet rather than meters, so I will provide a reference for both types of measurement in this example.

You are traveling 45 miles per hour, or 66 feet per second. In the four seconds you looked away from the road to your phone, you have traveled 264 feet, about three fourths (75%) of the length of a football field. Had you been on a major road, traveling at 65 miles per hour, this 4 second loss of attention would mean you traveled father than the length of a football field without paying attention to world around you. If you have ever been in an accident, had a close call, or experienced a near miss while driving, you know how quickly the situation around you can change, how quickly you must act in order to prevent an accident, and how long it takes for a car to come to a stop from when you press your foot on the brake.
Do you think putting luck in the drivers seat for over 100 yards is a good idea?

And with more and more accidents caused by mobile phone using drivers, studies have been performed to analyze and explain the effects of phone usage and driving. One study was done by Hosking, Young, and Regan at the University Accident Research Center and was aimed at the observation of the effects of texting while driving with young drivers. Subjects were put into a driving simulation and required to read and reply to text messages. The driver's ability to stay in their lane, their following distance, and eye movement were observed. The virtual road would also present obstacles to the driver, such as a car turning, or a pedestrian crossing the road, and their reaction speed and braking time to these obstacles were measured. It was concluded that drivers, while texting, spend 400% more time with their eyes off the road, and while those texting would increase their following distance from the car ahead of them, they would not reduce their driving speed. In particular, sending text messages greatly increased the drivers risk of having a collision [3]. By texting, you become a major hazard to yourself and those around you.

The final question you must ask yourself is this: Is it worth it?

Is it worth it to look at that message right now? The answer is no. Do yourself a favor and silence your phone when you drive, or if you can handle it, simply ignore that little catchy sound your phone makes when a new text arrives until you reach your destination. Because chances are, your friend does not need an immediate answer to "Lol, I just saw your roomate at the grocery store", and would letting them know immediately that you agree it's funny really be worth becoming paralyzed over? Or dying over? Or perhaps killing those in the cars around you when you cause an accident?

Your friend can wait. When you are on the road, please stay off your phone.




[1] U.S. Wireless Quick Facts. (n.d.). CTIA - The Wireless Association. Retrieved September 6, 2010, from http://www.ctia.org/media/industry_info/index.cfm/AID/10323 

[2] III, A. H. (n.d.). 28 percent of accidents involve talking, texting on cellphones - washingtonpost.com. washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines. Retrieved September 6, 2010, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/12/AR2010011202218.html 

[3] Hosking, S., Young, K. & Regan, M. (2007). The effects of text messaging on young novice driver performance. In: I.J. Faulks, M. Regan, M. Stevenson, J. Brown, A. Porter & J.D. Irwin (Eds.). Distracted driving. Sydney, NSW: Australasian College of Road Safety. Pages 155-187.