The Rising Danger in Making Phone Calls while Driving
- By Abimbola Tooki
- Published April 4th, 2011
- ITWorld
- Unrated
More than 1.2 million people die in road accidents every year and between 20 and 50 million others are injured. Over 90 per cent of the deaths occur in low-income and middle income countries, which have only 48 per cent of the world’s vehicles. Abimbola Tooki reports.
This alarming statistics of death on roads, according to the Global status report on road safety: Time for action, published by the World Health Organization (WHO) is caused by the use of mobile phones on wheels.
The report says that “while road traffic death rates in many high-income countries have stabilized or declined in recent decades, data suggest that in most regions of the world, the global epidemic of traffic injuries is still increasing.” It adds that road traffic injuries affect all age groups, “but their impact is more striking among the young.”
These alarming statistics have prompted the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration to launch 2011–2020 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety in order to halt or reverse the increasing trend in road traffic deaths and injuries around the world. To contribute to raising awareness on this important issue within the ITU membership, the council, at its annual session, adopted Resolution 1318 on the role of ITU in promoting the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve road safety.
Many countries of the world, including Nigeria, have banned the use of mobile phones while driving but BusinessWorld Intelligence reveals that many drivers across the cities and even in low income areas still clutch their phones while driving.
Some of the most dangerous forms of driver distraction are making calls and text messaging also known as texting. A Technology Watch Report entitled “Decreasing Driver Distraction”, released in August 2010 by ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU–T), highlights the standards, guidelines and initiatives that aim to make the use of in-vehicle information and communication systems less distracting. More than 50 countries now restrict or prohibit the use of hand-held phones while driving.
The report describes work done by ITU and its standardization arm, ITU–T, in this area, and recommends further ways of reducing driver distraction. Resolution 1318 considers “that driver distraction and road-user behaviour, which includes among many examples ’texting’, ’text messaging’, interfacing with in-vehicle navigation and communication systems, are among the leading contributors to road traffic fatalities and injuries,” and that the proliferation of ICT use in cars may contribute to driver distraction.
The research suggests that drivers spend up to 400 per cent more time with their eyes off the road when texting than they do when not texting. Mobile broadband enables drivers and passengers to benefit from innovative applications and location based services. But, when used at the wheel, smart phones, like other mobile phones contribute to inattention.
A simulation study conducted by Monash University’s Accident Research Centre (Australia), one of the foremost research institutions on driver distraction, concluded that “retrieving and, in particular, sending text messages has a detrimental effect on a number of safety critical driving measures, such as the ability to maintain lateral position, detect hazards, and to detect and respond appropriately to traffic signs.”
What is Driver Distraction?
According to the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety, driver distraction occurs “when a driver is delayed in the recognition of information needed to safely accomplish the driving task because some event, activity, object or person within or outside the vehicle compelled or tended to induce the driver’s shifting attention away from the driving task.”
Operating a mobile phone may involve all four forms of distraction: physical distraction caused by dialling a number; visual distraction caused by looking at the phone to dial a number; auditory distraction caused by holding a conversation on the phone; and cognitive distraction caused by focusing on the topic of conversation rather than monitoring any changes in the road environment.
Regardless of whether a phone is hands-free or hand-held, drivers in most cases take their eyes off the road and their hands off the wheel to reach for the phone, either to dial a number or answer an incoming call. Some studies have found that using a hands-free phone while driving is in no way safer than using a hand-held phone.
In line with the UN Decade of Actions (2011-2020) and the desire to transform Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) into a world class organisation in road safety management, FRSC recently held a one day retreat on the theme, “The 2011 FRSC Corporate Strategic Objectives,” in Abuja.
The aim of the retreat, according to Osita Chidoka, chief executive officer of FRSC, was to reposition the officers in the corps marshal’s office as part of a larger team to formulate strategic objectives that could help achieve the Accra Declaration and sustain the five pillars enshrined in the United Nations framework for actualising the Decade of Action (2011 - 2020), viz: road safety management, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer road users and improved post crash care.
Chidoka says part of the corps’ corporate strategic goals for ensuring compliance with all the driving codes in the country in 2011 include sustained intensive patrol throughout the year, improved use of technology platform as well as improved skills and capacity building.
At the same time, automakers, service providers and high-tech companies are pushing forward to bring other potentially distracting services and gadgets, including access to the World Wide Web and e-mail, 3D maps/navigation and high-definition video, to the front seat.
These and other in-vehicle information and communication services are delivered via original equipment manufacturer (OEM) components, automotive aftermarket devices (personal navigation devices, PND) and – rapidly gaining market share.
A study distributed by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that the leading factor in most crashes and near-crashes (80 per cent of crashes and 65 per cent of near-crashes) is driver inattention within three seconds before the event.
Dialing a hand-held device increases a driver’s chance of being involved in a vehicle crash by three times and listening or talking on such device increases the crash risk by 1.3 times. However, the number of crashes and near-crashes attributable to dialing is nearly identical to the number associated with talking or listening. Dialing is more dangerous but occurs less often than talking or listening.
While mobile phones are the most familiar form of distraction, the NHTSA study found that:
Reaching for a moving object while driving increases the risk of a crash or near-crash by nine times; looking at an external object while driving by 3.7 times; reading while driving by three times and applying makeup while driving by three times.
One of the most deadly forms of driver distraction is text messaging or texting. According to numbers published by CTIA-The Wireless Association, more than 1.5 trillion text messages were sent and received in 2009, amounting to almost five billion messages per day despite the danger, many of them at the wheel.
According to International Telecoms Union (ITU), providing means to decrease driver distraction caused by mobile phones will remain a challenging task, one that requires the cooperation and collaboration of equipment manufacturers, network operators, mobile platform and application developers, safety advocates, standards makers and other stakeholders.
The Union says new navigation and route-guidance applications are released each day and downloaded to smart phones. An ITU-T Focus Group, providing the links to the ICT sector, the automotive industry and the relevant authorities in ITU’s 191 member states, could be a place to coordinate such an effort.
ITU Council also resolves to raise awareness of the important role that ICTs can play to improving road safety. This could happen at the WSIS Forum 2011, the 2012 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, and, last but not least, at the annual Fully Networked Car workshops, jointly organized by ISO, IEC and ITU at the Geneva International Motor Show.
This alarming statistics of death on roads, according to the Global status report on road safety: Time for action, published by the World Health Organization (WHO) is caused by the use of mobile phones on wheels.
The report says that “while road traffic death rates in many high-income countries have stabilized or declined in recent decades, data suggest that in most regions of the world, the global epidemic of traffic injuries is still increasing.” It adds that road traffic injuries affect all age groups, “but their impact is more striking among the young.”
These alarming statistics have prompted the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration to launch 2011–2020 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety in order to halt or reverse the increasing trend in road traffic deaths and injuries around the world. To contribute to raising awareness on this important issue within the ITU membership, the council, at its annual session, adopted Resolution 1318 on the role of ITU in promoting the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve road safety.
Many countries of the world, including Nigeria, have banned the use of mobile phones while driving but BusinessWorld Intelligence reveals that many drivers across the cities and even in low income areas still clutch their phones while driving.
Some of the most dangerous forms of driver distraction are making calls and text messaging also known as texting. A Technology Watch Report entitled “Decreasing Driver Distraction”, released in August 2010 by ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU–T), highlights the standards, guidelines and initiatives that aim to make the use of in-vehicle information and communication systems less distracting. More than 50 countries now restrict or prohibit the use of hand-held phones while driving.
The report describes work done by ITU and its standardization arm, ITU–T, in this area, and recommends further ways of reducing driver distraction. Resolution 1318 considers “that driver distraction and road-user behaviour, which includes among many examples ’texting’, ’text messaging’, interfacing with in-vehicle navigation and communication systems, are among the leading contributors to road traffic fatalities and injuries,” and that the proliferation of ICT use in cars may contribute to driver distraction.
The research suggests that drivers spend up to 400 per cent more time with their eyes off the road when texting than they do when not texting. Mobile broadband enables drivers and passengers to benefit from innovative applications and location based services. But, when used at the wheel, smart phones, like other mobile phones contribute to inattention.
A simulation study conducted by Monash University’s Accident Research Centre (Australia), one of the foremost research institutions on driver distraction, concluded that “retrieving and, in particular, sending text messages has a detrimental effect on a number of safety critical driving measures, such as the ability to maintain lateral position, detect hazards, and to detect and respond appropriately to traffic signs.”
What is Driver Distraction?
According to the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety, driver distraction occurs “when a driver is delayed in the recognition of information needed to safely accomplish the driving task because some event, activity, object or person within or outside the vehicle compelled or tended to induce the driver’s shifting attention away from the driving task.”
Operating a mobile phone may involve all four forms of distraction: physical distraction caused by dialling a number; visual distraction caused by looking at the phone to dial a number; auditory distraction caused by holding a conversation on the phone; and cognitive distraction caused by focusing on the topic of conversation rather than monitoring any changes in the road environment.
Regardless of whether a phone is hands-free or hand-held, drivers in most cases take their eyes off the road and their hands off the wheel to reach for the phone, either to dial a number or answer an incoming call. Some studies have found that using a hands-free phone while driving is in no way safer than using a hand-held phone.
In line with the UN Decade of Actions (2011-2020) and the desire to transform Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) into a world class organisation in road safety management, FRSC recently held a one day retreat on the theme, “The 2011 FRSC Corporate Strategic Objectives,” in Abuja.
The aim of the retreat, according to Osita Chidoka, chief executive officer of FRSC, was to reposition the officers in the corps marshal’s office as part of a larger team to formulate strategic objectives that could help achieve the Accra Declaration and sustain the five pillars enshrined in the United Nations framework for actualising the Decade of Action (2011 - 2020), viz: road safety management, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer road users and improved post crash care.
Chidoka says part of the corps’ corporate strategic goals for ensuring compliance with all the driving codes in the country in 2011 include sustained intensive patrol throughout the year, improved use of technology platform as well as improved skills and capacity building.
At the same time, automakers, service providers and high-tech companies are pushing forward to bring other potentially distracting services and gadgets, including access to the World Wide Web and e-mail, 3D maps/navigation and high-definition video, to the front seat.
These and other in-vehicle information and communication services are delivered via original equipment manufacturer (OEM) components, automotive aftermarket devices (personal navigation devices, PND) and – rapidly gaining market share.
A study distributed by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that the leading factor in most crashes and near-crashes (80 per cent of crashes and 65 per cent of near-crashes) is driver inattention within three seconds before the event.
Dialing a hand-held device increases a driver’s chance of being involved in a vehicle crash by three times and listening or talking on such device increases the crash risk by 1.3 times. However, the number of crashes and near-crashes attributable to dialing is nearly identical to the number associated with talking or listening. Dialing is more dangerous but occurs less often than talking or listening.
While mobile phones are the most familiar form of distraction, the NHTSA study found that:
Reaching for a moving object while driving increases the risk of a crash or near-crash by nine times; looking at an external object while driving by 3.7 times; reading while driving by three times and applying makeup while driving by three times.
One of the most deadly forms of driver distraction is text messaging or texting. According to numbers published by CTIA-The Wireless Association, more than 1.5 trillion text messages were sent and received in 2009, amounting to almost five billion messages per day despite the danger, many of them at the wheel.
According to International Telecoms Union (ITU), providing means to decrease driver distraction caused by mobile phones will remain a challenging task, one that requires the cooperation and collaboration of equipment manufacturers, network operators, mobile platform and application developers, safety advocates, standards makers and other stakeholders.
The Union says new navigation and route-guidance applications are released each day and downloaded to smart phones. An ITU-T Focus Group, providing the links to the ICT sector, the automotive industry and the relevant authorities in ITU’s 191 member states, could be a place to coordinate such an effort.
ITU Council also resolves to raise awareness of the important role that ICTs can play to improving road safety. This could happen at the WSIS Forum 2011, the 2012 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, and, last but not least, at the annual Fully Networked Car workshops, jointly organized by ISO, IEC and ITU at the Geneva International Motor Show.
