Effect of Mobile Phone Usage

ROAD SAFETY ARTICLE

In about 64 days, we will bid farewell to 2022. Before we do, I need you to know that from January to August,2022, we recorded about 8916 road traffic crashes with about 4,325 lives lost while about 25848 degrees of injuries were sustained within the period. I do not have the details for the month of September but I do not expect it to be different from the other EMBER months.

The EMBER MONTHS I once told you are noted for increased motorisation, increased irresponsible driving behaviour and attendant road crashes. Therefore if the report from January to September is taken as a pointer to what may happen between October and December, then we must take necessary precautions especially with regards to how responsible we are on the wheels. to redress this trend.

While we ponder on these necessary precautions ,I need to fulfill my promise to continue my focus on mobile phone infractions by piloting you through similar research findings in Spain. The focus hopes to underscore the fact that mobile phone infractions is an issue in both developing and developed climes.

When I first wrote on the subject, I cited developments in the United Kingdom. However,I was hoping to draw the curtains until I stumbled on the research work on the “Effects of Mobile Phone Use on Driving Performance: An Experimental Study of Workload and Traffic Violations,} by Carlos .Catalina Ortega and others .Although the focus is on the young who rank among the top risk takers,I am excited by the work.

What you will read this week are not my thoughts but theirs.I have therefore chosen to share their thoughts with you which are not new.Before I do,please there were vital reminders from them too.The first is on the current status of road crashes which globally claims 1.35 million deaths annually.The second is that 80–90percent of road crashes are caused by drivers’ mistakes, errors and misbehaviours, inattention, fatigue, and distraction which I cited earlier. They range from speed violation,distracted driving which has been my focus for two weeks, among others.

The study equally observed that there are numerous potential in-vehicle sources of distraction.It singled out the use of phones as one of the major causes of road traffic crashes. Specifically, they noted the growing global phone usage which as at 2015, stood at 4.7 billion. The number as at August 2022, was six billion and is projected to hit 18.22 billion by 2025. The implication is that the increased number of subscribers would make the use of mobile phones among drivers very common.

The study stated that a total of 410,974 traffic accidents occurred between 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 in Spain. The crashes involved 666,504 drivers.Out of these, 8.33 per cent were involved in serious accidents while 12.82 per cent of these were young drivers who were under 25 years. The study found that 4,048 of the distracted drivers were using their mobile phones.

Similarly, a week-long surveillance campaign carried out in Spain by the Spanish General Traffic Department found that 2,873 drivers were using their mobile phones while driving .A further breakdown revealed that out of 10 young people, eight admitted to having distracted driving while 67 per cent admitted that they checked their mobile phones frequently while driving.

Another study by Linea Directa Foundation in collaboration with the Institute of Traffic and Road Safety (Intras) in 2019, estimated an average mobile phone usage to be 6hours and 48 minutes, particularly at traffic lights, traffic jams, and when they think “the road is safe”. As regards the use of mobile phones in Spain, it was reported that WhatsApp and Instagram just like in Nigeria were among the top three applications downloaded with active subscribers.

Meanwhile, experts as well as the researches note that distracted driving takes drivers’ eyes off the road, switches their consciousness from driving to other tasks, and results in false perceptions. It is said that road traffic crashes occur when the drivers’ performance on the wheels is below the required levels for the traffic

So what were their findings? First,the findings they noted, aligns with previous research that reported unsafe driving behaviours of young drivers who constitute a high-risk group for traffic accidents. They include unsafe driving behaviours of unlicensed young drivers risk perception and driving behaviours of young drivers , as well as the use of mobile phones and infotainment technologies by young drivers behind the wheels . Like other findings, they also maintain that by using their mobile phones, the drivers were more likely to engage in risky driving behaviours, and were less effective in controlling their lane position, managing their brake reaction time, speed, and headway deviation.

They opine that safe driving requires monitoring of the road and quick and adequate responses to unexpected changes in the driving environment which depend mainly on the drivers’ manual, visual, and cognitive abilities. However, the use of mobile phones for texting, surfing the web, responding to a call, and checking notifications from social media apps distracts the drivers, reduces their attentions, and increases the risk of a crash.

The results they obtained confirmed that multitasking such as interacting with the mobile phone while driving increases the driver’s overall workload. Another study conducted to estimate the impact of distractor tasks on the driving performance and driver’s control over the vehicle and workload ,had far reaching results. The first is that the performance of a secondary distractor task increases the workload which influences the variability in steering wheel movements and lane-keeping.

Mobile phone-related distractions are a potential risk to traffic safety and a growing problem that has the biggest impact on driving performance. Even though the use of mobile phones without a hands-free device is already illegal in many countries, including Spain, eliminating their use seems to be difficult and legislation alone is ineffective in addressing distracted driving.

This is because catching offenders is not an easy mission, as with speed. Moreover, the decrease in the use of mobile phones after law enactment does not last long and their use increases immediately following the first decrease.Therefore, raising public awareness through adoption of behavioral strategies and instruction of positive road safety culture seems to be a promising solution.

They equally posited that just as it is in the case of seatbelt use and drink-driving, creation of social norms will contribute to changing minds, modifying attitude and behaviors, increasing risk perception, and correcting acceptable risk definition. Since studies reveal that that young drivers fail to understand the effects of mobile phone use while driving and underestimate the associated risks,they made certain submissions.First, there is the need to increase the number of campaigns targeting young drivers through targeted advertising using appropriate communication means and social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Secondly, they recalled a recent cross-sectional study conducted in Spain which pointed out that older drivers affect their children’s driving attitudes and behaviours. Therefore, they recommended that to improve traffic safety education,there is the need to enhance parents’ road behaviours to influence positively the way children or young drivers perceive traffic safety especially behind the wheels.

They equally recommended the use of video game simulation methods which has the potential as a practical and cost effective programme of reducing mobile phone use among young drivers.

The study confirmed the impairments associated with the use of mobile phones among young drivers leading to poor control of the vehicle. Secondly, there is the need for the implementation of strategies to mitigate this risk even though some mobile phones now have a driving mode on their operating systems that turns their phone operation into easy-use, or restricted, mode if the user is driving. Thirdly, the incorporation of the eye-tracker system as a passive safety measure in vehicles would notify drivers whenever they engage in other activities which distract their attention from the roadway.