Research

Project Title:
Conversations in Cars: The Relative Hazards of Mobiles Phones

Start Date:
December 2001

Status:
Completed

Cost:
£65,000

Principal Investigator:
Mr Andrew Parkes (formerly Dr Peter C. Burns)

Contact Details:
TRL Limited
Transport Research Laboratory
Old Wokingham Road
Crowthorne
RG45 6AU
UK

Expertise:

TRL Limited is one of the largest and most comprehensive independent centres working in transport in the world. TRL are leaders in UK research on road safety and driver distraction and have the most advanced driving simulator facilities in the UK.

Approach:

The aim of this research is to measure the distraction from hands-free phones in relation to the other common driver distractions such as talking with passengers or tuning the radio.

The TRL Driving Simulator will be used to provide a realistic driving task in a safe and controlled environment. Participants will be asked to drive as they would normally. In one part of the experiment a passenger will sit next to the driver and have a conversation. The experimenter’s side of the conversation will follow a set script. The driver will also be asked to perform some common in-vehicle tasks (e.g., tuning the radio). In the second part the driver will have a similar conversation using a hands-free mobile phone. Driving performance will be compared across these different tasks to see which interferes most with safe driving.

Potential Difficulties:

The main challenge of this work is to re-create the typical passenger or carphone conversations. This will be difficult because conversations vary widely in terms of subject matter, length, frequency, and the relationship of the participants. Our solution to get people talking during this experiment will be to have a standard set of engaging questions for the drivers that demand some but not all of their attention.

Importance:

An increased risk of motor vehicle collisions has been associated to mobile phone use while driving. The present research will help put the hazards of carphones in context. It will identify whether or not talking on a phone while driving is more dangerous than talking with passengers or performing some other conventionally accepted activity. The data from this research could also contribute to policy recommendations on carphone safety.