Mobile phones and driving safety

A New York driver using two hand-held mobile phones at once
Legality of mobile phone use while driving:
A driver using a cellphone
Hands-free car kit
Negative consumption externality
Ticket and negtive externality
A sign along Bellaire Boulevard in Southside Place, Texas (Greater Houston) states that using mobile phones while driving is prohibited from 7:30 am to 9:30 am and from 2:00 pm to 4:15 pm.

Common but it is widely considered dangerous due to its potential for causing distracted driving and crashes.

- Mobile phones and driving safety
A New York driver using two hand-held mobile phones at once

22 related topics

Relevance
Hands-free phone kit fitted to a Saab 9-5.

Handsfree

Hands-free phone kit fitted to a Saab 9-5.

Handsfree is an adjective describing equipment that can be used without the use of hands (for example via voice commands) or, in a wider sense, equipment which needs only limited use of hands, or for which the controls are positioned so that the hands are able to occupy themselves with another task (such as driving) without needing to hunt far afield for the controls.

Convertible with a driver and a passenger

Driving

Controlled operation and movement of a vehicle, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses, and bicycles.

Controlled operation and movement of a vehicle, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses, and bicycles.

Convertible with a driver and a passenger
In 1899, an automobile was driven to the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire, for the first time
Driving in Beijing
Driving a Ferrari F430
Driver with two cell phones
Winter driving can pose serious hazards in countries with colder climates. Highway 11 in Ontario, Canada
Driver's license from Spain. Spanish driving licenses use a point system

One study on the subject of mobile phones and driving safety concluded that, after controlling for driving difficulty and time on task, drivers talking on a phone exhibited greater impairment than drivers who were suffering from alcohol intoxication.

The supply and demand model describes how prices vary as a result of a balance between product availability and demand. The graph depicts an increase (that is, right-shift) in demand from D1 to D2 along with the consequent increase in price and quantity required to reach a new equilibrium point on the supply curve (S).

Steven Landsburg

American professor of economics at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York.

American professor of economics at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York.

The supply and demand model describes how prices vary as a result of a balance between product availability and demand. The graph depicts an increase (that is, right-shift) in demand from D1 to D2 along with the consequent increase in price and quantity required to reach a new equilibrium point on the supply curve (S).

Landsburg also discussed recent research in micro-economics and its implications, as in an article on the value of mobile phones and driving, the (career) cost of motherhood, and whether or not daughters (as opposed to sons) cause divorce.

Tom Batiuk's Funky Winkerbean (February 3, 2012)

Funky Winkerbean

American comic strip by Tom Batiuk.

American comic strip by Tom Batiuk.

Tom Batiuk's Funky Winkerbean (February 3, 2012)
The death of Lisa (October 4, 2007).
The band box at Luigi's (Akron, Ohio), the restaurant that Montoni's is based upon.

The flashback ran concurrently with a storyline where Funky was seriously injured in a car accident, caused by a young woman whose car veers into the path of Funky's car while she was talking on a cellphone while driving.

Official portrait, 2017

Liam Byrne

British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Hodge Hill since 2004.

British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Hodge Hill since 2004.

Official portrait, 2017
Byrne at the 2006 Labour Party Conference

He sat on the parliamentary committee that shaped the Road Safety Act 2006, which increased fixed penalty fines for driving while using a mobile.

Official portrait, 2020

Harriet Harman

British politician and solicitor who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Camberwell and Peckham, formerly Peckham, since 1982.

British politician and solicitor who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Camberwell and Peckham, formerly Peckham, since 1982.

Official portrait, 2020
Harman in 2007
Harman in 2009
Harman in 2017

In January 2010 Harman pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention in relation to an incident on 3 July 2009 where she struck another vehicle whilst driving using a mobile phone, she admitted the offence in court.

Sidewalks, curbs and traffic signals in Hagerstown, Maryland, United States

Road traffic safety

Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures used to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured.

Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures used to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured.

Sidewalks, curbs and traffic signals in Hagerstown, Maryland, United States
Speed limits in different areas, unusually with only a "recommended" limit (130 km/h) for the Autobahn
DRIP Variable Message Sign guiding traffic on the Dutch A13 motorway
Vehicles experiencing a breakdown or an emergency can stop in the emergency lane; these lanes may themselves present risks to traffic.
Sacrifices to the Modern Moloch, a 1922 cartoon published in The New York Times, criticizing the apparent acceptance by society of increasing automobile-related fatalities.
Guardrails save a vehicle from a long fall c. 1920; but so said the original caption, guard rails were only sometimes effective at the time. It was not until the 1960s that safety testing ensured adequate protection, and even then only for vehicles of a limited weight-class
Pedestrian crossing, line markings and street furniture
A curb extension at a mid-block crosswalk
A traffic circle applied to a four-way intersection as a means of improving its safety. This device, with a proven record of collision reductions and traffic flow improvement, turns the cross-intersection into four virtual three-way intersections.
Utrecht has specially painted bicycle-only lanes.
Safe from traffic for cycling along a fully segregated Fietspad, properly designed cycling infrastructure in Amsterdam.
A shared space in Brighton (UK)
Guard rail on road in Kaluga Oblast (Russia)
The Pan-American Highway with central median and no freestanding obstructions
Simulated crashes using crash test dummies can help improve automobile design
The Dutch Reach - Use far hand on handle when opening to avoid dooring cyclists or injuries to exiting drivers and passengers.
Annual traffic deaths sign over I-95 in Georgia, US, indicating more than three deaths per day
According to Eurostat, there is almost a linear proportion between the total number of passenger-km driven by car and road fatalities.
Car fatalities per pax-km vs. car usage per pax-day; in Europe. It seems, at least in these European countries, that car fatalities per person-km have no strong correlation with massification of car usage. The average car usage in these countries is around 30km per person-day with varying number of fatalities ratios. These differences might be related with different cultural approaches to traffic codes, or more safety measures implemented on such countries
According to Eurostat and European Railway Agency, in European railway mode of transport, there is a fatality risk for passengers and occupants 28 times lower compared with car usage. Based on data by EU-27 member nations, 2008–2010.

Dependent on jurisdiction, driver's age, road type and vehicle type, motor vehicle drivers may be required to pass a driving test (public transport and goods vehicle drivers may need additional training and licensing), conform to restrictions on driving after consuming alcohol or various drugs, comply with restrictions on use of mobile phones, be covered by compulsory insurance, wear seat belts and comply with certain speed limits.

Fuel dispensers at an autohof near a German autobahn in Lower Saxony. Autohöfe, just like rest areas, provide travellers a place to refuel, as well as eat, and rest.

Rest area

Public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads.

Public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads.

Fuel dispensers at an autohof near a German autobahn in Lower Saxony. Autohöfe, just like rest areas, provide travellers a place to refuel, as well as eat, and rest.
Honshū-Shikoku contact bridge, a rest station at Great Naruto Bridge in Japan
Raststätte Bad Fischau at the Süd Autobahn in Austria
ABC Kuortti, restaurant and filling station chain owned by S Group in Kuortti, Finland, along the highway between towns Heinola and Mikkeli. It is the most popular filling station in Finland in terms of sales; according to the cooperative, in 2017 more than three million customers visited it.
Signage for rest areas, used in France on controlled-access highways
Signage for services provided at Cherwell Valley services, UK. Most motorway services accommodate restaurants, fast food outlets, and coffee shops.
Signage for a larger lay-by with some facilities near Dorchester, UK
A service centre in Cambridge, Ontario.
A service centre in Québec.
An ONroute service centre in Kingston, Ontario. The province has a number of ONroute service centres along its highway network.
Interior of an ONroute in Cambridge. ONroutes typically accommodate several restaurants and fast food outlets.
A rest area sign on Interstate 95 in Florida. The sign also makes note of the existence of secure overnight parking, and vending machines in the rest area.
"No soliciting" sign in a rest area in California. Some states like California, prohibit private retailers from occupying rest areas.
A rest area featuring several private fast food chains in Angola, New York
A travel plaza along Interstate 90 in Chittenango, New York
A state welcome center in West Virginia. State welcome centers are often located near state or municipal borders in the United States.
Roadside 'rest area' 20 km north of Wentworth, New South Wales

Lay-bys are generally beneficial to road safety, as they provide drivers a safe place to stop, whether they wish simply to rest, check directions, make a phone call (as it is illegal to use a mobile phone whilst driving in the United Kingdom except in an emergency – Highway Code Rule 149), stretch their legs, or get refreshments, or if their car has broken down.

Motorola Car Telephone Model TLD-1100, 1964

Car phone

Mobile radio telephone specifically designed for and fitted into an automobile.

Mobile radio telephone specifically designed for and fitted into an automobile.

Motorola Car Telephone Model TLD-1100, 1964
AEG 4015C telephone for the German B Network ca. 1979

In many countries, restricting cell phone use while driving is on an upward trend.

A person using a smartphone while sitting at a computer

Media multitasking

Concurrent use of multiple digital media streams.

Concurrent use of multiple digital media streams.

A person using a smartphone while sitting at a computer

Research in media multitasking in real-world settings focused mostly on using cellphones while driving.