All contents copyright ©, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc., 2003 onwards, unless specified otherwise. All rights reserved.

IMPORTANT: click here to read the DISCLAIMER

The Effects of Practice on Interference From an Auditory Task While Driving:   

A Simulation Study 

[A NHTSA Report that Appears to Sanction Certain Levels of Unnecessary Danger -- DSA]

Added on December 28, 2004

Abstract

Experimental research on the effects of cellular phone conversations on driving indicates that the phone task interferes with many driving-related functions, especially with older drivers. Limitations of past research have been that (1) the dual task conditions were not repeated in order to test for learning, (2) the “phone tasks” were not representative of real conversations, and (3) most often both the driving task and the phone task were experimenter-paced. 

In the real-driving environment, drivers learn to time-share various tasks, they can pace their driving to accommodate the demands of the phone conversation, and can even partially pace the phone conversation to accommodate the driving demands. 

The present study was designed to better simulate real driving conditions by providing a simulated driving task with repeated experiences of simulated driving and talking and two different phone tasks with different proximities to real conversations. 

In the course of five sessions of driving and using the phone, there was a learning effect on most of the driving measures. In addition, the interference from the phone task on many of the driving tasks diminished over time as expected. 

Finally, the interference effects were greater when the phone task was an artificial math operations task than when it was an emotionally-involving conversation, when the driving demands were greater, and when the drivers were older. 

Thus, the deleterious effects of conversing on the phone are very real initially, but may not be as severe with continued practice at the dual task, especially for young or middle-age drivers.

Source: TRB Transportation Research E-Newsletter - December 28, 2004

 DSA Comments:    We are baffled as to the intended purpose of this research. 

If it is intended to show that it might be okay for people to use cell phones while driving, then it is preposterous. One might as well argue that as heavy drinkers develop more tolerance to the visible effects of alcohol they should be allowed to drink and drive.

Even the abstract makes it clear that "the deleterious effects of conversing on the phone are very real initially." And it goes on to state that these deleterious effects "may not be as severe with continued practice at the dual task." [DSA italics.]

Reading the full report does not provide much enlightenment about the long-term goal for this research. 

We can therefore only hope that its purpose or eventual use will be to show that despite practice making drivers somewhat less dangerous, the risks associated with using cell phones while driving are utterly unacceptable, whether "very real" or "not quite as severe as very real." 

There can certainly be no excuse for any intimation -- now or in the future -- that using cell phones while driving will somehow become acceptable if drivers are allowed to practice the art.

[See the DSA page on cell phone dangers.]

Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc.