Mobile (cellular) phone use and driving: a critical review of research methodology

Abstract

Studies have examined possible effects of concurrent mobile phone use on driving performance. Although interference is often apparent, determining the implications of such findings for 'real world' driving is problematic. This paper considers some relevant methodological issues including the definition of procedures and terms, operationalization of task elements, sampling of task components, and the provision of experimental controls. Suggestions are made about how methodological rigor could be improved.

Assessing the effectiveness of “intuitive” vibrotactile warning signals in preventing front-to-rear-end collisions in a driving simulator

“…Therefore, we were interested in examining if the effects found by Ho et al previously could be reliably obtained in a more realistic testing environment, such as in a high-fidelity driving simulator (cf. Haigney and Westerman, 2001). If we were able to replicate the effects found previously, it would support the view that the implementation of vibrotactile in-car displays for directional information presentation may be practical and useful in preventing front-to-rear-end accidents.…”

“…Alm and Nilsson, 1995). However, as a number of researchers have pointed out, driving simulators surpass onroad testing as being both more cost effective and more ethical (see Haigney and Westerman, 2001;Reed and Green, 1999;cf. Kemeny and Panerai, 2003;McLane and Wierwille, 1975).…”

Problematic mobile phone use in adolescence: a cross-sectional study

“…Mobile phone use when driving leads to an increased risk for road accidents (Haigney 2001), with a quadrupling of the risk of a collision during the time spent on a call (Redelmeier and Tibshirani 1997). An excessive mobile phone use has been identified as a risk factor for neck-shoulder and low back pain in adolescents (Hakala et al 2006), for hearing and vision problems (Meo and AlDrees 2005) and, in the long term, for some kind of brain tumour (Hardell et al 2008).…”

“…Health promotion strategies focusing on this issue should be developed targeting the adolescent population, considering that a pathway could lead adolescents through classical and operant conditioning-both through excitement and increased arousal and through relief from anxiety and depressive states-and habituation to the development of a behavioural addiction (Blaszczynski and Nower 2002), and that excessive mobile phone use could be a cause of health problems-most notably brain tumours (Hardell et al 2008;Hardell and Carlberg 2009;Kundi 2010), road accidents (Redelmeier and Tibshirani 1997;Haigney and Westermann 2001;Ship 2010), semen alterations (Jurewicz et al 2009), orthopaedic (Hakala et al 2006), and hearing and vision problems (Meo and AlDrees 2005) with consequent social costs.…”

Mobile phone use while driving: a major public health problem in an Arabian society, State of Qatar—mobile phone use and the risk of motor vehicle crashes

“…These include a loss of lane maintenance (Briem and Hedman 1995;Reed and Green 1999), difficulties in making gap judgments (Brown et al 1969), a failure to process all road-relevant cues (Haigney and Westerman 2001) and a reduction in headway (Lamble et al 1999). The most critical task which mobile phone use while driving may impair is the ability to detect hazards and to react to them in time.…”