Oklahoma Highway Safety Office presentation
Oklahoma House of Representatives Interim Study on Distracted Driving
Oct. 8, 2009
 
 
It is clear that individual cases of driver distraction can lead to tragic consequences and that it is the goal of the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office to protect the lives of all Oklahomans on our state’s roadways and to prevent tragedies, no matter what the cause.

However, the raw data currently available to our office is insufficient to clearly establish that distraction, whether by electronic devices or other factors, has risen to a magnitude equal to impaired driving, speeding or other traffic dangers.
While common sense tells us that distracted driving is obviously a concern in today’s society, we are still in the preliminary stages of gathering data specific to this issue.

As early as 2001, the National Conference of State Legislatures launched their Driver Focus and Technology Forum, with a group made up of state legislators, traffic safety groups (such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, AAA and the National Security Council), and wireless communications providers, among others.

Since then every state has, at some point, debated cell phone restriction legislation – and today, six states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands prohibit all drivers from talking on handheld cell phones while driving.

Most of the recent studies and resulting legislative actions are focused on the use of cell phones and electronic devices, rather than other distractions. Talking and texting have been the subject of many headlines and media reports – and reasonably so, since the number of cell phone subscribers has risen from just over 100 million in 2005 to an estimated 280 million in 2008.

Due to a flurry of recent media attention, distracted driving is perceived to be a leading contributor to crashes and highway deaths – when in fact definitive data about electronic device usage as it relates to motor vehicle crashes is not yet in place.

It is somewhat difficult to obtain this definitive data, since police crash reports do not reliably document drivers’ phone use, and several of the recent studies cited in the media are based on observational data surveys or instrumented vehicles on test tracks.

One study performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in 2006 reviewed more than 100 experimental studies and found that phone conversation tasks, whether using hand-held or hands-free devices, did affect some measures of driving performance.

Two other reports in 2006 and 2008 also aggregated the results of multiple studies and found large decreases in driving performance from talking on phones – again, with both hand-held and hands-free phones producing similar results.

The conclusion is that while hands-free phones may eliminate some of the physical distraction of handling phones, the cognitive distraction from conversing still remains.

Two simulator studies have reported that talking on a phone has an effect similar to having a 0.08 BAC level when driving; however, while one-third of crash deaths occur in crashes involving drivers with BACs at or above 0.08 percent, there is no actual on-the-road evidence that cell phone-related crashes represent the same magnitude of problem.

In another simulator study in 2008, participants were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging while maneuvering a vehicle. This study showed a 37 percent reduction in brain activity when listening to spoken sentences in a headset. The conclusion was that listening and processing information from a phone conversation can draw mental resources away from driving, even when the driver is not holding a phone.

One study cited often in the recent news is the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute 100-car study. In this study, vehicles were equipped with video and electronic sensors for about one year. This equipment identified crashes, near-crashes and incidents requiring evasive maneuvers, as well as driver inattention.

During this study, 8,000 incidents were recorded, including 761 near-crashes and 82 crashes (mostly minor). Researchers determined that the odds of an incident, near-crash or crash were 2.8 times higher when dialing a hand-held phone and 1.3 times higher when talking on a hand-held phone.

However, since the study involved only 100 cars over a period of about a year and included many young drivers, the results may not be representative of the general population.

Those studies attempt to show the dangers of talking on a phone while driving, but texting while driving is a separate and equally important consideration. Several driving simulator studies show that when young drivers text, their reaction time slows and they are less able to maintain lane position.

Oklahoma statistics do show that distraction by use of electronic devices is a particular concern among young drivers. In each year – 2007 and 2008 – drivers in the 16- to 25 age group were reported to be in crashes involving distraction by an electronic device more than drivers in the three age groups 26-35, 36-45 and 46-55 combined.

Distractions from other factors plays an even more important role in crashes. In 2007 and 2008, 4,320 drivers in the 16- to 25 age group were reported to be involved in crashes involving other distractions. Again, this number is much higher than any other age group.

In view of all this information, what can we conclude about distracted driving in Oklahoma?

In 2007, there were 10 fatal crashes in our state involving a driver distracted by an electronic device; in 2008, there were 13 – an increase of 3.  Please note that, in our state, driver distraction is mostly self-reported by drivers involved in a crash. Crash reports are completed by law enforcement officers at the scene and do show when a driver is distracted by an electronic device or by other factors.

In 2007, there were 24 fatal crashes involving a driver who was distracted by something other than electronic devices; in 2008, there were 19 – a decrease of 5.

Injury crashes involving drivers distracted by electronic devices in Oklahoma also declined in the same time period. In 2007, 693 injury crashes involved these types of drivers; in 2008, the number was 661 – a decrease of 32.

Injury crashes involving drivers distracted by other means was 2,138 in 2007, and 1,999 in 2008 – a decrease of 139.

The number of drivers who were distracted by electronic devices and were involved in crashes rose from 1,736 in 2007 to 1,811 in 2008. However, the number of drivers distracted by other means and involved in crashes fell from 5,520 in 2007 to 5,252 in 2008.

But what percentage of all Oklahoma crashes involve a distracted driver?

When we consider all traffic crashes in Oklahoma, drivers who were distracted by electronic devices or other factors make up only a small percentage. Of 75,059 total crashes in 2007, 2.2 percent involved a driver distracted by an electronic device; 7.2 percent involved a driver distracted by something else.

In 2008, the numbers were similar: Of 72,667 total crashes, 2.3 percent involved a driver distracted by an electronic device; 7.1 percent involved a driver distracted by something else.

It is clear that distracted driving is an important and growing issue in Oklahoma, but we have yet to definitively determine the most dangerous types of distraction or the best methods with which to deal with the dangers.

While legislation and enforcement efforts are important, compliance may be low without highly publicized enforcement efforts (such as those employed in the “Click It or Ticket” or “Drunk Driving, Over the Limit, Under Arrest” campaigns). However, it is also accurate to say that enforcement of distracted driving laws creates definite and unique challenges for the law enforcement community.

No state completely bans all types of cell phone use (handheld and hands-free) for all drivers, but many prohibit cell phone use by certain segments of the population, such as novice drivers or school bus drivers.

According to September figures from the Governors Highway Safety Association, eighteen states and the District of Columbia now ban text messaging for all drivers. Nine states prohibit text messaging by novice drivers.

Numerous studies have shown teenage drivers are the most at risk from distracted driving, and teen drivers in 21 states and the District of Columbia are banned from talking on any type of cell phone.

However, the effectiveness of these laws is yet to be determined. Studies in North Carolina and South Carolina observed the number of teen drivers using cell phones as they left school at the end of the day. The numbers were virtually identical before the law took effect and five months afterward.

It is also unclear whether laws against hand-held cell phones have a marked effect on phone usage by drivers of any age. In New York, the number of drivers using hand-held phones 15 months after legislation took effect was only slightly lower than drivers using the devices before the law took effect. In Connecticut, the number of users was actually slightly higher 15 months after the law was in place.

My point in citing these statistics is that, to date, there is simply no definitive data outlining the specific factors related to distracted driving or the best means by which to deal with the problem.

The Governors Highway Safety Association recently publicized their position on the issue, recognizing that cell phone use and texting while driving are both dangerous behaviors. GHSA has “strongly discouraged” anyone from using a cell phone for any purpose while driving.

As the GHSA statement concludes, distracted driving did not become a problem overnight, and it will not be solved overnight. The approach will need to be consistent and multi-faceted and will need to involve the efforts of drivers, legislators and law enforcement personnel.

At the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office we agree that talking on the telephone or texting while driving are dangerous behaviors. However, many other types of hazardous driving behaviors are occurring every day on our roadways, and we need to determine the true scope of the distracted driving problem and the best approach to managing it in order to responsibly protect our state’s residents.
 
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