Gemma Briggs: Mobile Phone Use by Drivers: What We Know, and How to Share Such Inconvenient Truths

Phone use by drivers presents a significant global road safety issue, despite decades of research which compellingly demonstrates how and why this behaviour impacts on driving performance. While UK law bans handheld phone use, research shows that handsfree phone use offers no safety benefit over handheld use. This presentation shares collaborative research findings which highlight the cognitive roots to distraction imposed by phone use. This work explains both how and why phone conversations can increase crash risk and reduce hazard detection ability. This talk also offers a demonstration of the multiple ways in which this research has been used to contribute to policy, practice and education by showcasing a range of impact related activities and outputs.

Key Readings:

Wells, Helen; Briggs, Gemma F and Savigar-Shaw, Leanne (2021). The inconvenient truth about mobile phone distraction: understanding the means, motive, and opportunity for driver resistance to legal and safety messages. The British Journal of Criminology, azab038, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azab038.

Briggs, Gemma F.; Hole, Graham J. and Turner, Jim A.J. (2018). The impact of attentional set and situation awareness on dual tasking driving performance. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 57 pp. 36–47.

Briggs, Gemma F.; Hole, Graham J. and Land, Michael F. (2016). Imagery-inducing distraction leads to cognitive tunnelling and deteriorated driving performance. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 38 pp. 106–117.