Car phone users more dangerous than drink drivers

Motorists are ignoring anti-mobile phone legislation, with one million* UK motorists using their hand held mobile phone whilst driving at any given time.

As from 27th February motorists who are caught using a hand-held mobile whilst driving will have three penalty points added to their licence and be fined £60.

Driver behaviour of motorists in 11 cities across the UK was observed and in just one week the researchers recorded over 520 motorists using a mobile phone whilst at the wheel.

Across the country, Cardiff is home to the worst offenders with more than one in 10 motorists (13 per cent) caught using a mobile. Flouting of the mobile phone law, starting with the worst, was recorded as follows:

1. Cardiff
2. Newcastle
3. Southampton
4. Belfast
5. London
6. Edinburgh
7. Bristol
8. Birmingham
9. Norwich/ Manchester (joint)
10. Leeds

The researchers also noted drivers of 4x4s were most likely to take a call in transit followed by white-van drivers and prestige-motor owners. Drivers of taxis and HGV vehicles were the least likely to use a mobile phone.

Previous Direct Line research has revealed that talking on a mobile phone whilst driving is more dangerous than being drunk behind the wheel. Tests carried out by scientists at the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) established that driving behaviour is impaired more by using a mobile phone than by being over the legal alcohol limit**.

The results demonstrate that drivers’ reaction times were, on average, 30 per cent slower when talking on a hand-held mobile phone compared to being drunk and nearly 50 per cent slower than under normal driving conditions. According to the tests, drivers were less able to maintain a constant speed and found it more difficult to keep a safe distance from the car in front.

On average it took hand-held mobile phone users half a second longer to react than normal and a third of a second longer to react compared to when they were drunk. At 70 mph, this half-second difference is equivalent to travelling an additional 46 feet (14m) before reacting to a hazard on the road.

Emma Holyer, Direct Line’s Motor Spokesperson, commented:“Although the mobile phone laws which come into force this week will mean car phone users will automatically be given three points and £60 fine – we believe there needs to be higher public awareness on the dangers of using a mobile phone at the wheel so that drivers accept it is dangerous to drive whilst using a phone.

“Most people accept that talking on a mobile phone while driving is distracting however many drivers don’t appreciate how dangerous it is. Drink driving is clearly an established danger in the eyes of drivers and hopefully using a mobile phone whilst driving will become a thing of the past.”

For more information, log on to www.directline.com/car

Emma Holyer/Direct Line Press Office
0208 256 2182 / 07894 158605
Email: emma.holyer@directline.com

Notes to editors:

The research was carried out by PCP Market Research between Monday 5th February and Monday 12th February 2007. Researchers in 11 UK cities (Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich and Southampton) observed over three periods of two hours. One set of observations were made between 8am-10am, noon-2pm, and 4pm-6pm. At each location, a suitable observational position was chosen in the expectation that traffic would be heavy. Similar positions for each city were selected to ensure the results were as comparable as possible. A total of 15,717 observations were made.

*Source: There are 33.8 million drivers in the UK (Census data, 2001) and according to PCP, on average at any given time three per cent of all drivers use a mobile phone whilst driving. Therefore, 33,809,493 x 0.03 = 1,014,284

**Source: Direct Line commissioned the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) to undertake extensive research on the dangers of using a mobile phone when driving. This study was designed to quantify the impairment from hands-free and hand-held phone conversations in relation to the decline in driving performance caused by alcohol impairment.

The TRL Driving Simulator was used to provide a realistic driving task in a safe and controlled environment. Twenty healthy experienced drivers were tested in a balanced order on two separate occasions. The drivers were males and females aged 21 to 45 years. Before starting the test drive, they consumed a drink, which either contained alcohol or a similar looking and tasting placebo drink. The quantity of alcohol was determined from the participant’s age and body mass using the adjusted Widmark Formula (the UK legal alcohol limit 80mg / 100ml).

The test drive had four driving conditions: on a motorway with moderate traffic; maintaining a safe distance when following another vehicle; attempting to negotiate a bend in the road, and; driving on a dual carriageway with traffic lights.

During each condition the drivers answered a standard set of questions and conversed with the experimenter over a mobile phone. The independent variables in this repeated measures study were normal driving, alcohol impaired driving, and driving while talking on hands-free or hand-held phone.

Main Findings

The results showed a clear trend for significantly poorer driving performance (speed control, following distance and reaction times) when using a phone in comparison to the other conditions.

Driving performance under the influence of alcohol was significantly worse than normal driving, yet significantly better than driving while using a phone. Furthermore, drivers reported that it was easier to drive drunk than to drive while using a phone.

Drivers who were using a hand-held mobile phone reacted a half second slower than when they were driving under normal conditions. Any significant delay in reaction times increases the risk of having a crash and the crash severity.

This study demonstrates beyond doubt that using a mobile phone when driving significantly impairs the drivers’ attention to potentially hazardous situations, more so than having a blood alcohol level at the UK legal limit (80mg/100ml). In attempting to perform multiple tasks at the same time drivers subject themselves and other road-users to unacceptable dangers.