Young People Are More Likely To Use Cell Phones While Driving
Young People Are More Likely to Use a Cell Phone While Driving
Chaveli Lopez
Keiser University
Abstract
Driving is one of the skills that require full attention to control the vehicle and respond to the events happening on the road. Use a cell phone while driving involves visual, manual and mental distractions (NHTSA, 2005). Several studies have found that young people are more likely to use cell phone than older people. Young drivers are almost five times more likely than older drivers to report phone use while driving (McEvoy, 2006). But, others studies had found different results such as women or older people are more likely to use cell phones while driving. Therefore, a study conducted by Strayer found that the use …show more content…
of cellphone and the driving performance between younger and older drivers were equivalent (Strayer, 2004). Cell phone use while driving is a prevalent behavior among young and adults population in these days. With the advance of technology cell phones do many things and people now not only use it to talk, but also to other distractions such as texting, playing games, check the internet among other things. All these distractions cause accidents and deaths every day, so it is a very important issue to address. The prime objective of this research was to determine if younger driver have a high rate of use cell phone than adults while driving.
Young People Are More Likely to Use a Cell Phone While Driving
Driving is one of the skills that require full attention to control the vehicle and respond to the events happening on the road. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there are many kinds of distractions while driving, such as looking for an object or event outside the vehicle or reaching for a moving object outside the vehicle. Others distractions included applying makeup, reading and one of the most distracting, the use of cell phone. Use a cell phone while driving involves visual, manual and mental distractions (NHTSA, 2005).
Several studies have found that young people are more likely to use cell phone than older people. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety, the highest phone use rate in 2005 was among drivers between 16 to 24 years old (NHTSA, 2005). Young drivers are almost five times more likely than older drivers to report phone use while driving (McEvoy, 2006). Also another study found that young drivers between ages 18 to 20 have the highest incidence of using cell phone and crash experiences compared to all other age groups (Tison, 2011). But, others studies had found different results such as women or older people are more likely to use cell phones while driving.
Therefore, a study conducted by Strayer found that the use of cellphone and the driving performance between younger and older drivers were equivalent (Strayer, 2004). Another research concluded that females driver are at highest risk of used a cell phone while driving (Cramer, 2007). Adults with kids had a considerably increased likelihood to text and to talk on a cell phone while driving (Glynn, 2013). Based on this previously discussed research, two competing hypothesis exist about who tend more to use the phone while driving. Thus, the first three research support the hypothesis that younger adults are more likely to use cell phones while driving. However, the others three research support the hypothesis that women and older adults are more likely to use cell phone while driving. The objective of this research is to prove that younger adults are more likely to get distracting using a cell phone while driving than older adults.
The first experiment was conducted to explore the use of cell phone while driving. The participants were required to hold a current driver license, have driven in the past month. They must be aged between 18 to 65 years old. Drivers were excluded if they had hearing or English languages difficulties. There were a total of 1347 participants.
The first part of this study was to fill out a questionnaire.
The questionnaire contained items to ascertain such as driving characteristics of the sample, the frequency of mobile use while driving and adverse incidents relating to the phone use. In the second part of the study telephone interview were conducted by trained professional interviewers. The interviewer provided an explanation and determined the eligibility of the member for the survey. Stata version 8 was used to analyze the data.
The results of the study showed that there were 1347 participants, from those 1114 participants were mobile phone users. Of these, 726 have used a cell phone while driving. These drivers are most likely to be a male between ages 18 to 30. This is the group who is over-represented in crash statistics and report a frequency of use a phone while driving. The results of this study support the hypothesis that younger drivers are more likely to use a cell phone than adults.
The second study was a research conducted by the U.S Department of Transportation. Telephone surveys were conducted to choose the participants. The survey used a random-digit-dialing procedure to select the driver. A person must have a driver license and had driven at least one year. There were a total of 718 participants and they were between ages 18 to 65. From this males represent the 14.9% and females 12.4%. According to this research young drivers report more crashes while using cell phones than …show more content…
adults.
The results shown that young drivers 18 to 20 years have the highest incidence of crash experiences compared to all other age groups because they were distracting using a cell phone. Older group have the lowest rate of use cell phone while driving. Women report slightly higher phone involvement than men in crashes and near crashes. Also drivers under 25years old are much more likely to text while driving than all other age group. Young drivers are less likely to say something to a driver who is sending a text message while driving than older age groups.
In the third study the participants were recruited from the University of the North Caroline Highway Safety Research Center. There were equal numbers of male and female subjects in five age groups. The research examined data from the 1995-1999 Crashworthiness Data System. They collect data from 5000 police reported traffic crashes. They also collect data by a video logging system that was developed and installed in the vehicle of 70 volunteer subjects. The cameras were hidden from the driver’s view. Cameras where installed for one week.
The results from the 1995 to 1999 data collection demonstrated that only 8.3% of drivers were identified as distracted. Driver 20 and younger were more distracted using cell phone at the time of their crash than driver in older age. Drivers between 50 to 64 years old were more distracted eating or drinking. Those aged 65 and older were more likely to be distracted by objects or events outside.
Another study was conducted on 2004 by Strayer. The participants were 20 younger adults between 18 to 25 years old and older adults between 65 to 74 years. All participants were in a good health, had a normal vision and a valid driver’s license. Participants completed a questionnaire to determined health status, psychometric information and their interest on topics related to the cell phone use among drivers. Also the participants were familiarized with the driving simulator. The duration of each scenario was 10 min. In half of the scenarios were used the single task driving condition. The other half was used in the dual task, were the participants had to drive and converse in the cell phone.
The data demonstrate that conversing on a cell phone influenced driving performance and that the distracting effects of cell phone conversations were equivalent for older and younger adults. Older drivers, on average, are more likely to be involved in fatal traffic accidents while they used a cellphone. Younger adults compared to older adults have the same rate of use cell phone while driving.
On 2007, Cramer conduct one study to determine the use of cell phone while driving among college student compared to the adult population. According to Cramer college student, specific men, are more vulnerable to use cell phone while driving than adults and women. The participants were graduate student volunteers. They were trained to observe the daytime cell phone of 3,650 drivers. From the observed drivers 59.3 percent were women, compared with 59.2 percent of the students enrolled. All observers used a checklist observation sheet.
Female’s drivers were 1.51 times more likely to use a cell phone while driving than male drivers. Drivers with passengers were 0.15 times more likely to use cell phone than an unaccompanied driver. From the results of this research, it seems clear that the rate of use has increased fastest among young drivers. In this study, women drivers used cell phones more often than man (12.9 % vs. 8.6 %).
In addition one more study was conducted by experts in the Training, Research and Education for Driving Safety program at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. A total of 715 volunteers, driver adults between aged of 30 to 64 years completed an online survey. The majority was female on average age of 46 years old. Also an anonymous questionnaire was used to observe people 's perspectives about using cell phones while on the road and to determine the amount of time that participants use phones to text or call others while driving. The results shown that 512 subjects use cell phones for calling, texting, or other uses while driving, even drivers with kids in the car.
Discussion
Cell phone use while driving is a prevalent behavior among young and adults population in these days. With the advance of technology cell phones do many things and people now not only use it to talk, but also to other distractions such as texting, playing games, check the internet among other things. All these distractions cause accidents and deaths every day, so it is a very important issue to address. The prime objective of this research was to determine if younger driver have a high rate of use cell phone than adults while driving. The results of the above experiments show the two sides of the dilemma, half of the researches support the hypothesis that younger drivers are at high risk to use cellphone and the other half of researches don’t support it. Most of the research involves cross sectional research by looking at different groups of people of different ages and gender at the same point in time. The data was collected by questionnaire and observations sheets.
It is difficult to determine which group is more likely to use cell phone while driving because some of the studies used small group of sample. I agree with the researches that support that younger are more likely to use cell phone while driving because from my point of view the experiments were more complete. They compared the results of each group of age and they conduct the experiments in a natural environment.
References:
Cramer, S., Mayer, J., & Ryan, S.
(2007). College students use cell phones while driving more frequently than found in government study. Journal of American College Health, 56(2), 181-4. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/213071378?accountid=35996
Glynn, S. (2013, April 20). "Two-thirds Of Adults Use A Cell Phone While Driving With Kids." Medical News Today. Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/259409.php. McEvoy, S. P., Stevenson, M. R., & Woodward, M. (2006). Phone use and crashes while driving: A representative survey of drivers in two australian states. Medical Journal of Australia, 185(11), 630-4. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/235757358?accountid=35996
Strayer, D. L., & Drews, F. A. (2004). Profiles in driver distraction: Effects of cell phone conversations on younger and older drivers. Human Factors, 46(4), 640-649. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/216449964?accountid=35996
Stutts, J. C., & Hunter, W. W. (2003). Driver inattention, driver distraction and traffic crashes. Institute of Transportation Engineers.ITE Journal, 73(7), 34-34. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/224881546?accountid=35996
Tison, J., Chaudhary, N., & Cosgrove, L. (2011, December). National phone survey on distracted driving attitudes and behaviors. (DOT HS 811 555). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Retrieved from
www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nti/pdf/811555.pdf.
Chaveli Lopez
Keiser University
Abstract
Driving is one of the skills that require full attention to control the vehicle and respond to the events happening on the road. Use a cell phone while driving involves visual, manual and mental distractions (NHTSA, 2005). Several studies have found that young people are more likely to use cell phone than older people. Young drivers are almost five times more likely than older drivers to report phone use while driving (McEvoy, 2006). But, others studies had found different results such as women or older people are more likely to use cell phones while driving. Therefore, a study conducted by Strayer found that the use …show more content…
of cellphone and the driving performance between younger and older drivers were equivalent (Strayer, 2004). Cell phone use while driving is a prevalent behavior among young and adults population in these days. With the advance of technology cell phones do many things and people now not only use it to talk, but also to other distractions such as texting, playing games, check the internet among other things. All these distractions cause accidents and deaths every day, so it is a very important issue to address. The prime objective of this research was to determine if younger driver have a high rate of use cell phone than adults while driving.
Young People Are More Likely to Use a Cell Phone While Driving
Driving is one of the skills that require full attention to control the vehicle and respond to the events happening on the road. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there are many kinds of distractions while driving, such as looking for an object or event outside the vehicle or reaching for a moving object outside the vehicle. Others distractions included applying makeup, reading and one of the most distracting, the use of cell phone. Use a cell phone while driving involves visual, manual and mental distractions (NHTSA, 2005).
Several studies have found that young people are more likely to use cell phone than older people. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety, the highest phone use rate in 2005 was among drivers between 16 to 24 years old (NHTSA, 2005). Young drivers are almost five times more likely than older drivers to report phone use while driving (McEvoy, 2006). Also another study found that young drivers between ages 18 to 20 have the highest incidence of using cell phone and crash experiences compared to all other age groups (Tison, 2011). But, others studies had found different results such as women or older people are more likely to use cell phones while driving.
Therefore, a study conducted by Strayer found that the use of cellphone and the driving performance between younger and older drivers were equivalent (Strayer, 2004). Another research concluded that females driver are at highest risk of used a cell phone while driving (Cramer, 2007). Adults with kids had a considerably increased likelihood to text and to talk on a cell phone while driving (Glynn, 2013). Based on this previously discussed research, two competing hypothesis exist about who tend more to use the phone while driving. Thus, the first three research support the hypothesis that younger adults are more likely to use cell phones while driving. However, the others three research support the hypothesis that women and older adults are more likely to use cell phone while driving. The objective of this research is to prove that younger adults are more likely to get distracting using a cell phone while driving than older adults.
The first experiment was conducted to explore the use of cell phone while driving. The participants were required to hold a current driver license, have driven in the past month. They must be aged between 18 to 65 years old. Drivers were excluded if they had hearing or English languages difficulties. There were a total of 1347 participants.
The first part of this study was to fill out a questionnaire.
The questionnaire contained items to ascertain such as driving characteristics of the sample, the frequency of mobile use while driving and adverse incidents relating to the phone use. In the second part of the study telephone interview were conducted by trained professional interviewers. The interviewer provided an explanation and determined the eligibility of the member for the survey. Stata version 8 was used to analyze the data.
The results of the study showed that there were 1347 participants, from those 1114 participants were mobile phone users. Of these, 726 have used a cell phone while driving. These drivers are most likely to be a male between ages 18 to 30. This is the group who is over-represented in crash statistics and report a frequency of use a phone while driving. The results of this study support the hypothesis that younger drivers are more likely to use a cell phone than adults.
The second study was a research conducted by the U.S Department of Transportation. Telephone surveys were conducted to choose the participants. The survey used a random-digit-dialing procedure to select the driver. A person must have a driver license and had driven at least one year. There were a total of 718 participants and they were between ages 18 to 65. From this males represent the 14.9% and females 12.4%. According to this research young drivers report more crashes while using cell phones than …show more content…
adults.
The results shown that young drivers 18 to 20 years have the highest incidence of crash experiences compared to all other age groups because they were distracting using a cell phone. Older group have the lowest rate of use cell phone while driving. Women report slightly higher phone involvement than men in crashes and near crashes. Also drivers under 25years old are much more likely to text while driving than all other age group. Young drivers are less likely to say something to a driver who is sending a text message while driving than older age groups.
In the third study the participants were recruited from the University of the North Caroline Highway Safety Research Center. There were equal numbers of male and female subjects in five age groups. The research examined data from the 1995-1999 Crashworthiness Data System. They collect data from 5000 police reported traffic crashes. They also collect data by a video logging system that was developed and installed in the vehicle of 70 volunteer subjects. The cameras were hidden from the driver’s view. Cameras where installed for one week.
The results from the 1995 to 1999 data collection demonstrated that only 8.3% of drivers were identified as distracted. Driver 20 and younger were more distracted using cell phone at the time of their crash than driver in older age. Drivers between 50 to 64 years old were more distracted eating or drinking. Those aged 65 and older were more likely to be distracted by objects or events outside.
Another study was conducted on 2004 by Strayer. The participants were 20 younger adults between 18 to 25 years old and older adults between 65 to 74 years. All participants were in a good health, had a normal vision and a valid driver’s license. Participants completed a questionnaire to determined health status, psychometric information and their interest on topics related to the cell phone use among drivers. Also the participants were familiarized with the driving simulator. The duration of each scenario was 10 min. In half of the scenarios were used the single task driving condition. The other half was used in the dual task, were the participants had to drive and converse in the cell phone.
The data demonstrate that conversing on a cell phone influenced driving performance and that the distracting effects of cell phone conversations were equivalent for older and younger adults. Older drivers, on average, are more likely to be involved in fatal traffic accidents while they used a cellphone. Younger adults compared to older adults have the same rate of use cell phone while driving.
On 2007, Cramer conduct one study to determine the use of cell phone while driving among college student compared to the adult population. According to Cramer college student, specific men, are more vulnerable to use cell phone while driving than adults and women. The participants were graduate student volunteers. They were trained to observe the daytime cell phone of 3,650 drivers. From the observed drivers 59.3 percent were women, compared with 59.2 percent of the students enrolled. All observers used a checklist observation sheet.
Female’s drivers were 1.51 times more likely to use a cell phone while driving than male drivers. Drivers with passengers were 0.15 times more likely to use cell phone than an unaccompanied driver. From the results of this research, it seems clear that the rate of use has increased fastest among young drivers. In this study, women drivers used cell phones more often than man (12.9 % vs. 8.6 %).
In addition one more study was conducted by experts in the Training, Research and Education for Driving Safety program at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. A total of 715 volunteers, driver adults between aged of 30 to 64 years completed an online survey. The majority was female on average age of 46 years old. Also an anonymous questionnaire was used to observe people 's perspectives about using cell phones while on the road and to determine the amount of time that participants use phones to text or call others while driving. The results shown that 512 subjects use cell phones for calling, texting, or other uses while driving, even drivers with kids in the car.
Discussion
Cell phone use while driving is a prevalent behavior among young and adults population in these days. With the advance of technology cell phones do many things and people now not only use it to talk, but also to other distractions such as texting, playing games, check the internet among other things. All these distractions cause accidents and deaths every day, so it is a very important issue to address. The prime objective of this research was to determine if younger driver have a high rate of use cell phone than adults while driving. The results of the above experiments show the two sides of the dilemma, half of the researches support the hypothesis that younger drivers are at high risk to use cellphone and the other half of researches don’t support it. Most of the research involves cross sectional research by looking at different groups of people of different ages and gender at the same point in time. The data was collected by questionnaire and observations sheets.
It is difficult to determine which group is more likely to use cell phone while driving because some of the studies used small group of sample. I agree with the researches that support that younger are more likely to use cell phone while driving because from my point of view the experiments were more complete. They compared the results of each group of age and they conduct the experiments in a natural environment.
References:
Cramer, S., Mayer, J., & Ryan, S.
(2007). College students use cell phones while driving more frequently than found in government study. Journal of American College Health, 56(2), 181-4. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/213071378?accountid=35996
Glynn, S. (2013, April 20). "Two-thirds Of Adults Use A Cell Phone While Driving With Kids." Medical News Today. Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/259409.php. McEvoy, S. P., Stevenson, M. R., & Woodward, M. (2006). Phone use and crashes while driving: A representative survey of drivers in two australian states. Medical Journal of Australia, 185(11), 630-4. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/235757358?accountid=35996
Strayer, D. L., & Drews, F. A. (2004). Profiles in driver distraction: Effects of cell phone conversations on younger and older drivers. Human Factors, 46(4), 640-649. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/216449964?accountid=35996
Stutts, J. C., & Hunter, W. W. (2003). Driver inattention, driver distraction and traffic crashes. Institute of Transportation Engineers.ITE Journal, 73(7), 34-34. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/224881546?accountid=35996
Tison, J., Chaudhary, N., & Cosgrove, L. (2011, December). National phone survey on distracted driving attitudes and behaviors. (DOT HS 811 555). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Retrieved from
www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nti/pdf/811555.pdf.