Cell Phones and Driving: The Psychological Effects

Cell phones and driving don't mix very well. Which sucks, because it's so dang convenient to talk on a cell phone while driving. Most of us (myself included) have used a cell phone when driving before. And some people like to partake in cell phone driving any chance they get! As the debate rages on, more evidence is stacking up against those in favor of talking on a cell phone while driving.

Traditional thought about cell phones and driving

For the past decade, driving experts have been lecturing us that holding cell phones and driving is a bad idea. In other words, they believed that the physical act of holding the phone is dangerous. Here's why:

Loss of physical control

Apparently, having both hands available for the steering wheel is important. While many drivers only use one hand on the wheel at all times (tisk, tisk), it's important to have that second hand available during emergency situations. When talking on cell phones and driving at the same time, drivers tend to hang onto that phone rather than drop it for added vehicle control.

That's a fair argument, but isn't that why blue tooth was invented? Of course it was! Most people are using headsets or ear pieces, so this argument doesn't hold much water anymore. Right? Right.

Loss of peripheral driving vision and neck control

Whether you realize it or not, you use your peripheral vision constantly when driving. It's just more of a subconscious thing. But you're using it all the time. The argument goes, if I'm holding a phone to my ear, than my arm, hand, and even the phone itself is restricting my peripheral vision. Not to mention, the physical act of holding the phone causes neck movement restrictions. Bummer. Double whammy. But again... blue tooth! Problem solved! Right? Right.

Phone droppage

Alright, phone droppage might not be the actual term the industry experts use. But it seems when it comes to cell phones and driving, people have trouble hanging onto the phone! Whether it's fumbling to answer while the phone is ringing, or hitting that huge pothole, cell phones get dropped frequently in cars. Instinctively, the driver will reach down to grab said phone and crash into a bus full of nuns. But yes, once again the reply is...say it with me...BLUE TOOTH! Problem solved. The nuns can live!

But some new studies have ruined that argument. Somebody always has to spoil the party!

New thought: The psychological effects of cell phones and driving

Turns out, blue tooth isn't the answer to everything. There's more to it than that. The physical aspect of holding a cell phone while driving is only the beginning, and unfortunately, isn't the biggest reason our driving becomes impaired.

Cell phones take away from our multi-tasking ability

Even with a blue tooth headset, your very powerful brain becomes a bit less powerful. We tend to get complacent in our driving. We forget that driving a car is actually a very complex task and requires quite a bit of multitasking and coordination. Driving might seem easy, but there is a lot going on upstairs when we're doing 55mph in a 3,000lb hunk of metal surrounded by a bunch of other people doing the same thing in all different directions. Bumper to bumper rush hour traffic isn't much better! We've got obstacles, traffic lights, pedestrians, random people driving like idiots, turn signals, construction zones, rocket boosters (what, your car doesn't have rocket boosters? Too bad.), and a bunch of other crap going on. Adding a cell phone into the mix seems to cause some major multi-tasking issues according to recent studies.

Drunk driving similar to cell phones and driving?

So what does this all mean? Well, talking on a cell phone decreases our ability to focus fully on the task of driving. We make more mistakes. We make some oversights. Our reaction time increases. Our judgment becomes impaired... Wait, this sounds a lot like a drunk driver, doesn't it? Well, actually, cell phones and driving produce the same results of a drunk driver with a .08BAC (the legal blood alcohol limit in the United States). For most people, a .080BAC doesn't mean they are sloppy drunk. But certainly they aren't as safe as an alcohol free driver. Same story rings true for cell phone driving. While you probably aren't a ticking time bomb, you certainly aren't making things safer (wait, did I say "you"? I meant OTHER people - you're awesome at cell phone driving, I'm sure).

Cell phones vs. physical passengers

A lot of people say, "wait a minute, talking on a cell phone isn't any worse than talking with a passenger in the car!" But you wouldn't say that. Because you already know that talking to a passenger is in fact one of the biggest forms of distracted driving (one of the oldest forms of distracted driving, too). So that pretty much invalidates the argument. Passengers cause a huge amount of distraction, which is why most states have even adopted graduated drivers licenses where new drivers can't have passengers in the vehicle until certain experience levels are met.

Unfortunately, cell phones and driving is worse than just talking to a passenger. You see, the person you're talking to on the phone can't see what you see like a normal passenger. They can't feel a hard brake application. They can't hear the guy honking at you. With regular passengers, they are very aware of what is happening around you, the driver. So when something complex is occurring, the passenger will shut up or at the very least, their tone of voice will change. Not with cell phones! Your virtual passenger will continue to yap away as if nothing is happening. The verdict is in, and it turns out this has enormous psychological effects on our human brains (except yours, though. You're the exception to the rule because you're just such a great driver).

The solution to cell phones and driving

A solution? Oh, geeze, I wasn't prepared to write anything about that. Gosh, this is embarrassing. But I'll give it a try anyway.

Unfortunately, we need to go back to the dark ages. If you don't remember these dark times, I'll remind you what this horrific life was like...

In the old days, way back in the 1990's (yes, the ancient 20th century), people didn't have cell phones (No, really! They didn't!). If somebody needed to make a phone call, they did so before and/or after they drove (no lie!). If they had to make a call en route, they pulled over to make a call from a pay phone (people used to put coins into a box with a phone attached to it - I saw it on the history channel once).

How our society got so connected that we can't go without talking on a cell phone during rush hour traffic is beyond me. But the only real solution to cell phones and driving is to go back to the dark ages. The only safe answer is to simply make our phone calls outside of drive time. The question now is, are we willing, as a society, to go back to that evil period (minus the pay phones)?