Wireless Phones - Featured articles:The British government has introduced new policy guidelines that make bad driving while using a mobile phone a jail offense More »
Do you insist on using your phone while driving ... in spite of the distraction? If so, these safety tips may save your life (and reduce your legal fees). More »
75% of Swedish drivers use mobile phones, but most are still holding the phones up to their ear, and they are causing crashes, a new study says. More »
Banning cell phone use while driving would not produce more safety at a reasonable cost, says the New Zealand Land Transport Safety Authority. More »
The California Highway Patrol has withdrawn a report on the role of cell phones in traffic accidents after learning it may have drastically understated the problem. More »
Wireless Phones - Other links:
This 2001 report from the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center summarizes a large project that included observation of drivers, pilot-testing the use of a supplemental data form by police, and analyzing police narratives for crashes. (PDF format.)
The National Council of State Legislators has an update on what is happening with cell phone legislation and research in the USA. (Also in PDF format .)
Briefly summarizes 2001 research conducted by the University of Utah which found that phone use resulted in twice as many missed traffic signals and delayed reaction times--even with hands-free phones.
June 2001 report from CBC's Marketplace provides an overview of the issues and notes some recent research results.
This 1999 report contains information on the demographics of mobile phone use in the U.S., focusing on user demographics and frequency of usage while driving.
If cell phones are all that dangerous to drivers where are all the crashes?
Scholarly article gives an overview of the potential problems associated with mobile phone use, and tentatively concludes that crashes are more likely. Suggests enhancing safety through efforts in engineering, human factors design, education, and legislation.
Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association offers advice for improving safety while using mobile phones.
Titled: "The impact of auditory tasks (as in hand-free cell phone use) on driving performance", this Canadian study found regular and hands-free phones equally distracting for the 41 test drivers. (PDF format.)
An early scholarly study concludes that while a wireless telephone conversation is no more distracting than a conversation of the same intensity with a passenger, the availability of a cellular phone will increase significantly the number of conversations in general, and the more distracting, business conversation in particular.
