Mobile phone users in cars.???

Question

How have the British Government worked out that you are FOUR times more likely to have an accident whilst driving and using a mobile phone.??!!. Why not twenty times, or twice, or five and a half times more likely?.
How do they work it out as FOUR... and is it a con!!??
( I'm not condoning using a mobile while driving.....just wondering how and where the figure came from).

Answer 1

Well, here we have a typical example of a government reacting to dubious research conducted in-house by the transport research laboratary, where 20.....repeat 20.....drivers were stuck on a driving-simulator and then observed and measured for reaction times etc.

Thus, when RoSPA and the twits at "Think!" start quoting the cathphrase "Research has shown......" you now know that it was a very limited study, done on the cheap, using artificial means.

We must assume that the "sample group" would have to cover both sexes and all ages, so it couldn't possibly include a wide sample of those who most use hands-free mobile-phones; namely the 25-45 age group, who would be predominantly male. We also don't know whether the sample people chosen had good or bad accident records, what licence they held, how many miles they drive per year, how long they have held a full licence etc etc.

But you can be sure that their "Reasearch has shown....."

In fact, the research has shown one thing very convicingly, and that it the fact that the representative sample of people was inadequate for any serious scientific study, and that SOME people are distracted by telephone-calls worse than if they had been consuming alcohol.

With only 20 people sampled, the margin for error is enormous, and fully vindicates my view that the whole experiment was a waste of time and money.

In fact, I will throw down the challenge, and suggest that they get ME to sit at one of their simulators, and make notes accordingly. They will soon discover that I can talk perfectly hands-free, drive a very large truck and maintain a safety record which now exceeds 2,000,000 miles.

"Research also shows" that there are people doing jobs for which they are "not fit for purpose" and about which they know bugger all!

Answer 2

Driving simulators.

You put someone in a simulator and run the program. You do this with 20 or 30 or 100 different people (or whatever number the T.R.L. decides to use). You measure their reactions to different situations.

You then do exactly the same, but with the 'drivers' using mobile phones. You then compare the difference in reaction times and accident avoidance.

This is called a controlled experiment and will give a very good indication of how people drive when on mobile phones. This is how the goverment gets many of its statistics.

Answer 3

They look at causes of crashes. If the driver of one or both vehicles was using a mobile phone, then there is a strong connection between the crash and the phone use. This is not to say that phone use caused the crash.

But when a large number of crashes involve mobile phone use, it begins to look like cause and effect. After a bit of counting it becomes clear that there is a mathematical relationship. The difference between 3 and 4 as in Cali or the UK is neither here nor there. Its the difference beteen 3.4 and 3.6. These statistics may be faulty but are not "made up". As for nannies, the government owns the roads so they can make what laws they like.

Personally I think road police should have a container of salty water in their vehicles. Stop a driver using the mobile phone, immerse the phone in the water, shake and give it back.

Answer 4

Good question. Here in my home state of Connecticut a similar law was passed just over one year ago. They came up with a figure of three, I believe. Three of what or four times of what. I too, isn't condoning the use of holding a cell phone while driving. The law allows a hands free method. This created another way for cell phone providers to make more money with the Blue Tooth devices.

Answer 5

Its a distraction I don't know how they got four so I am just guessing but I think it has something to do with studies on what is the most distracting, like smoking whilst driving would be 1 and eating while driving is 3 and mobile phones are 4. I think I remember something about looking at how much concentration you put into using your mobile phone and how much it takes away from you paying attention to the road. That's just my guess though, but good on you for challenging the facts!

Answer 6

I was watching on BBC last month that driving safety experts did few experiments and asked drivers to do some pre-defined tasks. They do the same tasks with and without using cell phones. Results show that cell phones distract attention from driving. They also give similar figures in that program according to these test results.

So these figures might taken from experiments.

Answer 7

They are just made up. This crap government are expert at distorting and massaging figures to suit their own ends.They also keep telling us that speed is the cause of the majority of accidents on the roads , that cameras make roads safer, and that global warming is real and the cost of the Olympic stadium has not risen.If you believe anything this Gov says you are a bigger idiot than they are.
I don't condone the use of mobiles whilst driving but what i do object to is this "Nanny" Gov blinding us with meaningless statistics.

Answer 8

accidents are reported. say 5 in one day, out of them five 4 where caused by someone being on a mobile phine there for four times more accidents caused by mobile phones than other things.

Answer 9

My guess is they take the figures of road deaths and the causes of road deaths, so there are four times as many people who die while on the mobile phone while driving than those that don't.

Answer 10

What I don't understand is what dimwit in the government thought that a £60 fine and three points will be effective. Lets make it £1000 and 6 points, there has been enough publicity about it now, so lets hit them where it will really hurt. We could even confiscate the cars of continous offenders and crush them. And death through drunk drivers changed from manslaughter to murder!