{"id":19889,"date":"2021-11-24T13:46:37","date_gmt":"2021-11-24T13:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=19889"},"modified":"2021-11-24T13:46:37","modified_gmt":"2021-11-24T13:46:37","slug":"drivers-and-hand-held-mobile-phones-extending-the-ban-wont-solve-the-problem-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/arts-social-sciences\/drivers-and-hand-held-mobile-phones-extending-the-ban-wont-solve-the-problem-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Drivers and hand-held mobile phones: extending the ban won\u2019t solve the problem \u2013 here\u2019s why"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Dr Gemma Briggs, Senior Lecturer in Psychology<\/a> at The Open University<\/a> and Helen Wells, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Keele Univeristy.<\/em><\/p>\n

The laws around mobile phone use while driving are to be tightened under new\u00a0UK government plans<\/a>\u00a0to make any use of a hand-held phone illegal. From 2022, mobile phone law will be extended to cover taking photos or videos, scrolling through playlists or playing games while driving or stationary, say, at a traffic light. Use of a mobile phone \u2018hands-free\u2019, however, will still be allowed \u2013 even though research shows it is\u00a0equally distracting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Currently, UK drivers using a hand-held mobile phone can only be prosecuted if it can be proven that they were using it for an \u201cinteractive communicative function<\/a>\u201d such as calling or texting. The change in the law closes this loophole, and makes it easier for distracted drivers to be prosecuted, fined \u00a3200, and given six points on their licence.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0the UK government<\/a>, 81% of people who responded to its consultation supported the move. This aligns with findings from roadside breakdown group RAC, whose\u00a0annual report<\/a>\u00a0on motoring regularly shows that mobile phone use by other drivers is a top concern for motorists.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0data also shows<\/a>\u00a0that many drivers who claim to support the law nevertheless continue to use their phones while behind the wheel.\u00a0One survey<\/a>\u00a0found that more than a quarter of drivers admitted to hand-held mobile phone use, at least occasionally.<\/p>\n

So why do drivers who support the law, and acknowledge the dangers of distracted driving, still use their phones? The answer partly lies in driver attitudes and biases.<\/p>\n

What the evidence tells us<\/h2>\n

Research\u00a0consistently shows<\/a>\u00a0that most drivers consider themselves to be above average at driving. Statistically speaking, of course, this is highly unlikely. But this \u201cself-enhancement bias\u201d gives drivers a rationale for believing\u00a0their<\/em>\u00a0mobile phone use is safe, while condemning others for doing the same thing.<\/p>\n

Phone-using drivers\u00a0justify their behaviour<\/a>\u00a0by claiming they are able\u00a0to modify<\/a>\u00a0their mobile phone use dependent on the driving situation, such as limiting use on busy roads. They believe they are able to multitask and\u00a0mitigate the risk<\/a>\u00a0in a way that other drivers cannot.<\/p>\n

Drivers with self-enhancement bias also often demonstrate \u201ccrash risk optimism<\/a>\u201d \u2013 judging themselves to be at lower risk of a crash compared to other drivers.<\/p>\n

In a sense, every journey a self-perceived above-average driver successfully completes while using a mobile phone appears to confirm to them that their behaviour is appropriate, and the law is aimed at other drivers. This helps to explain why strong support for a tightened law in this area can coexist with high rates of offending.<\/p>\n

\n
\"A<\/div>
Research tells us many drivers consider themselves to be above average at driving.<\/span>\u00a0APM STOCK\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Education campaigns that, for example, feature fatal or serious collisions caused by a distracted driver can actually play into these biases. Such campaigns appear to confirm drivers\u2019 belief that they can handle it, while these other \u201cinferior\u201d drivers could not.<\/p>\n

For these over-confident drivers, perhaps the only deterrent would be the threat of enforcement. But in recent years, numbers of dedicated roads-policing officers in the UK\u00a0have declined<\/a>, and the public has, apparently, noticed. In\u00a0one survey<\/a>, 54% of respondents felt they were unlikely to be caught or punished for using a hand-held mobile phone while driving.<\/p>\n

This combination of circumstances makes it very difficult to persuade drivers that they shouldn\u2019t use their mobile phones behind the wheel. If a driver thinks they can safely multitask while also avoiding prosecution, what\u2019s stopping them?<\/p>\n

We need to change attitudes<\/h2>\n

The tightening of the law may help to encourage some drivers to think about their phone use, but it seems unlikely it will solve the problem of mobile phone use among drivers, and eliminate the harm it causes.<\/p>\n

In a broader sense, changes to the law will never be able to keep pace with new technologies.\u00a0In-vehicle distractions<\/a>, such as interactive screens on the dashboard and digital assistants like Alexa, are developing more quickly than the law can keep up with.<\/p>\n

If we want to reduce the\u00a0number of people killed<\/a>\u00a0and seriously injured each year by drivers using their mobile phones, we have to\u00a0persuade drivers<\/a>\u00a0not to do it regardless of whether or not they\u2019ll get caught.<\/p>\n

We need to challenge the narratives that drivers regularly deploy to justify their behaviour, and address driver biases head-on by providing education, based on psychological evidence, that\u2019s harder for drivers to resist or deny.\u00a0Interactive education<\/a>, which allows drivers to experience their own distraction, rather than hearing about the failures of others, would be a good place to start.<\/p>\n

If we don\u2019t address driver attitudes, we won\u2019t meaningfully address driver distraction, regardless of what the law says.<\/p>\n

Dr Gemma Briggs, Senior Lecturer in Psychology,<\/a> The Open University<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n

Helen Wells, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Keele Univeristy.<\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from\u00a0The Conversation<\/a>\u00a0under a Creative Commons license. Read the\u00a0original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Dr Gemma Briggs, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at The Open University and Helen Wells, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Keele Univeristy. The laws around mobile phone use while driving are to be tightened under new\u00a0UK government plans\u00a0to make any use of a hand-held phone illegal. From 2022, mobile phone law will be extended […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":19893,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,13,15],"tags":[869,1525,1640,2200],"class_list":["post-19889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-social-sciences","category-psychology","category-society-politics","tag-fass","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home","tag-the-conversation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}