We have been driving cars for 125 years. We’ve been talking on telephones for 100 years. We have only combined these two activities, to any great degree, in the last 10-15 years. Motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 cause of accidental death in the United States. Crashes are the leading cause of all death, accidental or otherwise, for everyone between the ages of 5 and 35. Those between the ages of 15 and 20 are more likely to die in a car crash than as a result of the next three leading causes of death—homicide, suicide and cancer—combined. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the critical reason for 94 percent of crashes is driver error, as opposed to vehicle or environment related reasons. Recognition and decision errors, which include driver distraction, represent 74 percent of driver error. The National Safety Council (NSC) estimates that at least 27 percent of crashes in 2013 involved drivers using cell phones, including 1.2 million crashes during which drivers were talking on cell phones and a minimum of 341,000 crashes during which drivers were texting.
The Human Brain Does Not Truly Multi-Task
Researchers in the field of cognitive neuroscience have studied human attention for more than 80 years. These scientists will tell you there is no such thing as true “multi-tasking.” When we are reading a book or magazine article and the phones rings, we naturally stop reading, answer the phone and have a conversation. Most of us would never consider continuing to read as we talk on the phone. That is because the human brain does not multi-task, it toggles tasks. It switches back and forth between two tasks, never engaged in both at precisely the same time. We know that if we try to read and talk on the phone, we are not doing either task well, so we rarely, if ever, try to do both at the same time. Yet, most of us think it is perfectly fine to talk on the phone and drive a vehicle. If we make a mistake reading a book, we can re-read a paragraph. If we make a mistake driving a vehicle, it can negatively impact our lives or someone else’s.
All Distractions Are Not the Same
Drivers who use their cell phones while driving expose themselves to a significant safety risk that affects both them and those with whom they share the road. Cell phone distraction involves all three types of driver distraction: visual, manual and cognitive. More than 30 research studies have found that hands-free devices offer no safety benefit because they do not reduce the cognitive distraction of conversation. Distracted driving crashes are the result of two factors—the risk of the activity and the prevalence of that risk. Most people, including lawmakers and researchers, only focus on risk and seem to ignore risk exposure. In evaluating what causes crashes, both are equally important. We typically have little concern for a risk to which we are seldom exposed. However, we should have great concern for a risk to which we are continuously exposed as in the case of cell phone distracted driving. It is risk exposure that makes cell phone use while driving such a unique and dangerous activity. NHTSA has stated (based on its annual National Occupant Protection Use Study (NOPUS)) that more than 10 percent of all drivers are using their cell phones at any given time. No other distracting behavior or risk comes close to that level of exposure. It is risk exposure that makes cell phones the most dangerous distraction that drivers face on a continuing basis.
NSC and NTSB
In January 2009, based on input from many of its more than 10,000 business members, the NSC called for a total ban on cell phone driving. In December 2011, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued the recommendation that all 50 states and the District of Columbia enact complete bans of all portable electronic devices for all drivers—including banning the use of hands-free devices.
This follows its total ban recommendation for commercial drivers in October 2011. NTSB recommendations are based on its investigations of serious and fatal crashes that found driver or operator cell phone use was a factor in the crashes. Here are three examples:
- Nov. 14, 2004: A private tour bus struck a bridge on the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Alexandria, Virginia. The crash destroyed the motor coach’s roof and injured 11 students, one seriously. The bus driver was talking on a hands-free cell phone at the time of the crash. The driver had passed warning signs indicating that the right lane was nearly two feet too low for the height of the bus to pass under the bridge. The driver, who had traveled this same route only about a week earlier, said he did not see the warning signs or the bridge itself before impact. The NTSB concluded that the bus driver’s cognitive distraction resulting from a hands-free cell phone conversation was the probable cause of the crash.
- March 26, 2010: A semi-trailer traveling southbound on I-65 near Munfordville, Kentucky, crossed the grass median and entered the northbound lanes where it was struck by a 15-passenger van. The crash killed 11 people.
The NTSB determined the probable cause of the crash was the truck driver’s failure to maintain control of his vehicle because he was distracted by the use of his cell phone. • Aug. 5, 2010: Traffic slowed before a work zone on I-44 in Gray Summit, Missouri, as vehicles merged from the left lane to the right lane. A truck-tractor with no trailer slowed behind the traffic when it was rear-ended by a pickup truck. This set off a chain of fatal collisions. A school bus carrying 23 passengers struck the pickup truck and came to rest on top of the pickup and the truck-tractor. Moments later, a second school bus in the convoy that was carrying 31 passengers rear-ended the first school bus. Two people were killed and 38 people were injured. The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the first collision was distraction due to a text messaging conversation conducted by the pickup driver that resulted in his failing to notice and react to the truck-tractor in front of him.
An Important Issue for Employers
Cell phone use while driving has become an important safety and liability issue for employers. Those who expect employees to use cell phones while driving as part of their business must recognize that doing so exposes their employees to a preventable crash risk and employers to costly liability. Consider a situation in which an employer knew a behavior in some area of its operations exposed employees to a much greater risk of injury. Would employers still expect, or even encourage, that behavior? That is precisely what happens when an employer permits or encourages employee cell phone use while driving. With the intense publicity surrounding cell phone distracted driving in recent years, it would be difficult for employers and employees to argue that they’re not aware of the dangers.
Employers are responsible for ensuring employees adhere to applicable federal agency regulations and federal, state and municipal laws. However, what is often not understood is that these regulations and laws are a minimum requirement and may not be enough to keep people safe. Employers should establish policies about cell phone use and driving that exceed existing laws. Safety policies and systems in many companies are designed to reduce significant risks and protect employees. Companies with leaders who are committed to safety excellence know that their safety systems and policies often exceed Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements or state laws because regulations and laws often prescribe minimum standards, not best-in-class safety. Designing safety policies that only comply with federal rules, regulations or state laws often leave employees vulnerable to injury and companies exposed to liability and financial costs. Cell phone use while driving is, in this way, no different than many other occupational safety issues.
Conclusion
The rapid advancement of mobile communications technology has enabled drivers to engage in all kinds of activities while driving a vehicle that have nothing to do with the task of driving. As long as crashes are killing and seriously injuring so many people and as long as driver error is the overwhelming leading cause of crashes, does it make sense to allow and even encourage the driver to engage in phone calls, Facebook updates, voice-based texting and other activities that have nothing to do with the already dangerous task of driving?
The auto and consumer electronics industries have claimed that “eyes on the road and hands on the wheel” are the only critical requirements for distraction-free driving. They seem to believe the mind is not required to safely operate a vehicle. This flies in the face of years of science and most importantly common sense. It is time that we focus first and exclusively on the task of driving for our safety and for the safety of everyone with whom we share the road.