Mobile phone use and inattentional blindness

It's always good to be on the lookout for unicycling clowns and other dangers while on the move, but if you're talking on a mobile phone, chances are they will escape your attention, according to research highlighted in the Independent. Researchers at Washington University observed pedestrians as they crossed the campus either talking on a mobile phone, listening to a personal music player, in conversation with another pedestrian, or walking alone, without any electronic devices.

The researchers noted aspects of their walking behaviour – the time it took them to cross the square, whether they stopped, zig-zagged or stumbled, direction changes , and  collisions or near collisions with others. The researchers also observed  whether they noticed an obvious distraction just off the walking path, like a brightly-colored unicycling clown ("very rare on campus pathways", according to the study authors).

Only 25 percent of people using their mobile phones noticed the clown, compared to more than half of people in the other groups. Pedestrians talking on a mobile phone were slower, change direction more, have difficulty navigating. The study did not blame electronic devices per se (61% of people using a music player saw the unicyclist) or on having a conversation (chatting couples were the most vigilant with a 71% detection rate).

Instead, mobile phone users fail to notice what is going on around them due to inattentional blindness. The study provides further evidence of the dangers of phone driving and will be published in the December issue of Applied Cognitive Psychology. Source: Independent, 26 October 2009. tinyurl.com/yz57dj5

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Text-driving video "one of the best public information films ever"

The dangers of text-driving have been highlighted around the world thanks to a road safety film made by police in Gwent, South Wales. The video has become a global hit and been described as one of the best public information films ever. In the film, a fictional 17-year-old is distracted for a few seconds while driving with two friends. She causes a crash which kills her friends, and another couple.

The `viral video’ has reached web users across the world, including India and South America and has over 2 million hits on You Tube. It has also featured on CNN, discussed in Time magazine, and described by an advertiser as possibly one of the most powerful public information films ever made.

The 30-minute film is to be shown on BBC Wales in October. The force is also working on a schools learning pack. Gwent’s Chief Constable Mick Giannasi said: "I am astonished but encouraged by the way news of the film had spread" and has had suggestions that it should be used as part of the theory test for young drivers. The film was made for just "a few thousand pounds" by the force using amateur actors. The force had intended to make a film about joyriders but were told by youngsters from nearby Tredegar Comprehensive School that texting is more dangerous. The film director Peter Watkin-Hughes said: "If we can get one person to change their behaviour then it is worthwhile." Source: Telegraph, 4 September 2009. tinyurl.com/nvy59m

Hands-free car phones no safe option

The Sydney Morning Herald reports on several studies that highlight the dangers of driving while using hands-free car phones. A long-term study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the US in 2003, but only recently reported in the New York Times, uncovered “negligible differences in safety relevant behaviour and performance between using a hand-held and hands-free communications devices while driving from the standpoint of cognitive distraction”. Advice from authorities is conflicting. In Australia, the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority urges drivers to keep their mobile conversations short and to avoid “complex or emotional” topics, but the the NRMA motoring organisation goes a step further, advising drivers who want to make or receive a call or send a text, to pull over before using their mobiles. “Even when you’re on a mobile hands-free, you are diverting your attention from driving and increase the risk of having a crash," NRMA Insurance spokesman John Hallal said.

In 2005, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety undertook a study to cross-match traffic accidents with phone billing data. The findings indicated a four-fold increase in injury crash risk from the use of mobile phones, consistent across male and female drivers, older and younger drivers, and hand-held and hands-free phones.

Another study by Griffith University in 2004 revealed that it was not only hand-held mobiles that caused problems, and the interference from talking to someone not in same context was problematic. Russell White, a driving expert who helped to conduct the 2004 study, said: “We discovered that distraction didn’t come from the type of conversation... It was the factor of having the chat, during which we saw changes in driving performance in terms of perception, awareness and also vehicle control... We found they braked later and cornered harder when having telephone conversation as opposed to when there were no distractions.” He said the key problem was the internal process of having a phone call, which takes them out of their current situation.

In spite of the mounting evidence, equipment manufacturers continue to market hands-free systems as safe alternatives to hand-held phones. “Hands-free car kits allow the convenient and safe use of your mobile phone so you can maximise down time while driving,” Telstra says on its website.

But an outright ban on hands-free dialling will not solve existing safety concerns said Thilo Koslowski, Gartner’s car industry analyst: “What we need are more studies to examine the cognitive load of talking on a mobile phone. I think ultimately the automobile industry will find the answer in sophisticated communication systems that can interact with driving data,” he said. Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 29 July 2009. tinyurl.com/n9dydo

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