Thoughts On Mobile Phone Driving Laws

By Daniel Miessler on January 13th, 2008: Tagged as Culture | Law

car_mobile

There’s been a push in recent years to pass laws regarding the use of mobile phones while driving. We all instinctively know that talking on the phone makes us less safe, and there are plenty of studies to back up this instinct.

Things get messy, however, when we start talking about moving to hands-free phones. The problem is that a number of studies are showing that going from a regular mobile phone to one that doesn’t require you to use your hands doesn’t help the safety issue much — if at all. And this is where I had an interesting thought:

If going hands-free doesn’t help it’s because the conversation is what causes the distraction more so than having to hold a phone to your ear. But if that’s true then are there studies to show that drivers with passengers are more likely to wreck also? In short, if the problem is the conversation then it’s going to apply to real people in the car with you just the same as someone you’re talking to on the phone.

And if that is the case, when where do we place this delimiter between safety and stupidity? No more passengers? Not going to happen. No more talking to passengers? Equally lame. So it seems the only option is to reduce whatever the risk caused by actually holding a phone to your head, even if it’s lower than the risk of having a conversation. Going for more than that just isn’t practical.:

  • http://www.skryking.net/ Jason Ormes

    just gotta figure out to get that old brain to truly multi task..

  • http://www.skryking.net Jason Ormes

    just gotta figure out to get that old brain to truly multi task..

  • Chris

    Maybe the answer is universal health care and cheap small automobiles?

    Then you remove the incentive of for profit auto insurance caring, as they wouldn’t have to pay for medical claims or expensive car replacements, at which point the issue probably just goes away.

  • Chris

    Maybe the answer is universal health care and cheap small automobiles?

    Then you remove the incentive of for profit auto insurance caring, as they wouldn’t have to pay for medical claims or expensive car replacements, at which point the issue probably just goes away.

  • MD

    The problem is supposedly the quality of sound. The driver needs to concentrate more on the conversation as the quality of mobile signals isn’t constant, but tends to fluctuate as the car moves.

  • MD

    The problem is supposedly the quality of sound. The driver needs to concentrate more on the conversation as the quality of mobile signals isn’t constant, but tends to fluctuate as the car moves.

  • Carl M

    I think too that we are not yet used to the idea of hands free calling. Our brains understand conversing with someone sitting next to us even without looking at them as we talk. I had doubted this evidence (I’d heard it for a long time) until I got my first hands free set-up this past summer. It is NOT the same as conversing with a person sitting next to you. I don’t know why exactly, but it is definitely not the same. I suspect that using a headset would be better … I was using the bluetooth connection in my car when I realized that my attention was not as focused as it should have been on the road (no accidents or issues, but I could tell I wasn’t focused in the same way as when conversing with others). Part of it too is that we’re not used to stopping talking when on the phone. We do it all the time when conversing with someone in real-life. They see what is taking our attention for the moment .. the moment passes and the conversation continues naturally .. later we don’t even realize that there was a pause. Being on the phone is different.

  • Carl M

    I think too that we are not yet used to the idea of hands free calling. Our brains understand conversing with someone sitting next to us even without looking at them as we talk. I had doubted this evidence (I’d heard it for a long time) until I got my first hands free set-up this past summer. It is NOT the same as conversing with a person sitting next to you. I don’t know why exactly, but it is definitely not the same. I suspect that using a headset would be better … I was using the bluetooth connection in my car when I realized that my attention was not as focused as it should have been on the road (no accidents or issues, but I could tell I wasn’t focused in the same way as when conversing with others). Part of it too is that we’re not used to stopping talking when on the phone. We do it all the time when conversing with someone in real-life. They see what is taking our attention for the moment .. the moment passes and the conversation continues naturally .. later we don’t even realize that there was a pause. Being on the phone is different.

  • http://dmiessler.com/ Daniel Miessler

    I agree with the commenters that there are major differences, but I think there are similarities too. I, for example, am downright dangerous when having ANY conversation while doing any driving that requires thought. I get so excited when talking that I pretty much move all other activities to a low priority.

    In fact, now that I think about it, the only real accident I’ve ever been in was caused by me being involved in a conversation with a passenger, and ignoring the road.

  • http://dmiessler.com Daniel Miessler

    I agree with the commenters that there are major differences, but I think there are similarities too. I, for example, am downright dangerous when having ANY conversation while doing any driving that requires thought. I get so excited when talking that I pretty much move all other activities to a low priority.

    In fact, now that I think about it, the only real accident I’ve ever been in was caused by me being involved in a conversation with a passenger, and ignoring the road.

  • brad

    Are you talking about the accident that we were in? If it makes you feel better, I didn’t even realize that we were about to hit a car and all I was doing was conversing. :)

  • brad

    Are you talking about the accident that we were in? If it makes you feel better, I didn’t even realize that we were about to hit a car and all I was doing was conversing. :)

  • Carl M

    I’m not sure if this translates exactly, but I was just in the grocery store and there was a woman with a cell phone headset who was “driving” her cart like a complete idiot … entirely clueless of her surroundings. So I take back my comment that headsets may be an improvement.

  • Carl M

    I’m not sure if this translates exactly, but I was just in the grocery store and there was a woman with a cell phone headset who was “driving” her cart like a complete idiot … entirely clueless of her surroundings. So I take back my comment that headsets may be an improvement.


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