Is the Hands-Free-Only Law Reducing Hands-Free Use?
At the California Office of Traffic Safety Summit this afternoon in San Francisco, I was talking to AAA’s Steven Bloch about research the group did recently on compliance with California’s law requiring car drivers to use only hands-free devices while driving. He referred to an interesting finding, referenced in the link above, that came after sifting through the observational data: As might be expected, hand-held phone use while driving had declined, but hands-free use has actually declined as well since the law was passed (at least according to this survey).
No, correlation is not causation, but it’s intriguing nonetheless. Bloch theorizes (unscientifically, he stresses) one of two things is happening: One, the publicity about the law has raised awareness in general about the risks of talking on a phone — hand-held or not — while driving (and this trend shall pass); or two, that people have not fully understood the law, and may be confusing one form of phone with the other (I admit to sometimes taking a moment to comprehend what the ungainly term ‘hand-free phone’ actually signifies). A third possible idea is that people may somehow feel police will be looking more carefully at all drivers on a phone, regardless of whether it’s legal or not. Or perhaps there’s some other unknown factor at work. Or perhaps the sample size is simply not large enough; perhaps more people than ever are driving and talking.
Even so, the idea had me wondering about other cases where a law intended to curb one behavior had, unintentionally or not, also curbed an associated, though legal, behavior. Any thoughts?
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 5:55 pm and is filed under Traffic safety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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April 8th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Allow me to suggest another option, one that explains the decline in my own cellphone use while driving.
It goes like this: unless the driver is a fully assimilated member of the bluetooth-borg and keeps her earpiece on all day long, then it’s a minor, but sufficiently bothersome, hassle to activate one’s headset just to have a short conversation on the phone. In which case, the added small cost of syncing one’s headset for a phone call may cause people to use their phones only for urgent or lengthy calls.
(This observation may imply the–wholly unsurprising–corollary that many in-car cellphone conversations prior to the new law were mostly yippity-yappity time-filler)
April 9th, 2009 at 5:55 am
No idea but I’ve noticed that cell phone users are playing a new set of games (well at at least new to me). Simply stated they’re not answering, instead first checking to see who’s calling and then to allow their service provider to take a message. Then when it’s convenient they call you back, usually a minute or two later. I’m sure the cell phone service providers appreciate all those additional revenues these habits generate.
I too I’m surprised that so many drivers have such important business discuss that it can’t wait. I’ve noticed that my neighbors, once entering their vehicle, are so inspired that they immediately get on their cell phones.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:52 am
@Jack: If you have a postpaid plan with a bucket of minutes, it doesn’t cost extra to check your voicemail and call back later.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Tom,
Interesting post. On a similar note, significant research has been conducted in the human factors and ergonomics domain regarding the effects of cell phones on driving performance. Some of the more recent articles include:
Card, J.K., Willness, C.R., Steel, P., & Scialfa, C. (2008). A meta-analysis of the effects of cell phone drivers on driver performance. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 40, 1282-1293.
Drews, F.A., Pasupathi, M., & Strayer, D.L. (2008). Passenger and cell phone conversations in simulated driving. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 14, 392-400.
Horrey, W.J., & Wickens, C.D. (2006). Examining the impact of cell phone conversations on driving using meta-analytic techniques. Human Factors, 48, 196-205.
Strayer, D.L., Drews, F.A., & Crouch, D.J. (2006). A comparison of the cell phone driver and the drunk driver. Human Factors, 48, 381-391.
Best regards,
Eric
April 10th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Tom,
While it’s not exactly what you’re looking for, there is the example of Germany’s motorcycle helmet law having the unintended impact of reducing motorcycle thefts; the opportunistic thief rarely carries a helmet.
Mayhew, P.M., Clarke, R.V. & Elliott, D. 1989 “Motorcycle Theft, Helmet
Legislation and Displacement”, The Howard Journal, no. 28, pp. 1-8.
April 14th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Could it be that people who talk to each other on cell phones tend to be driving at the same time as each other?