Cellular Phone Distracted Driving: A Review of the Literature and Summary of Crash and Driver Characteristics in California

The present study reviews the literature on cell phone-distracted driving including the effectiveness of legislative efforts to reduce the behavior. It also reports results of descriptive analyses characterizing crashes and drivers involved in police-reported, cell phone-distracted crashes in California. Cell phone use in the U.S. is widespread and increasing. People tend to support legislative efforts to limit the use of cell phones while driving despite the fact that many continue to engage in the behavior. Empirical and observational research consistently shows a negative impact of cell phone use on driving performance and crash risk. The present study extracted data from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System database pertaining to crashes that occurred between 2003 and 2011 in California. These data were examined at two levels: crash and driver. Crash analyses revealed that most crashes did not involve inattention. When they did, non-cell phone inattention was more common than cell phone inattention and hand-held phone use was more commonly associated with crashes than hands-free. The most common primary crash factor for cell phone-related fatal/injury crashes was traveling at an unsafe speed. A larger percentage of cell phone-related fatal/injury crashes occurred during the workweek than on the weekend, and more occurred in the afternoon than in the morning or night. Driver analyses revealed that 21 to 30 year-old drivers accounted for the largest percentage of drivers involved in cell phone-related fatal/injury crashes. Males accounted for more cell phone-related fatal/injury crashes than females. Finally, drivers reported as using a cell phone at the time of fatal/injury crashes were more likely to be found at fault, and were slightly more likely to be found at fault than those using hands-free devices.

• Record URL:
  http://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/connect/08ac48df-b006-4f3e-aa97-04f4f9682a66/S7-248.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  California Department of Motor Vehicles

  Research and Development Branch
  P.O. Box 932382
  Sacramento, CA  United States  94232-3820

  California Office of Traffic Safety

  2208 Kausen Drive, Suite 300
  Elk Grove, California  United States  95758

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Limrick, Kevin
  • Lambert, Ann
  • Chapman, Eric
• Publication Date: 2014-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 60p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attention lapses; Cellular telephones; Crash analysis; Days; Distraction; Drivers; Legislation; Literature reviews; Males; Periods of the day
• Geographic Terms: California
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I81: Accident Statistics; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01579219
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: CAL-DMV-RSS-14-248, RSS-14-248
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Oct 23 2015 9:35AM