Using Cellular Telephones in Vehicles: Safe or Unsafe?

Abstract

Cellular telephones are commonplace among the general driving public, and concerns have been raised about the safety implications of their use while driving. In response to these concerns, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) initiated a comprehensive data- and information-gathering effort to help ensure that the public, the wireless industry, and the states have sufficient knowledge upon which to make informed decisions regarding the issues, to identify needed initiatives and research, and to explore the broader safety issues associated with use of these systems. The topic was explored by reviewing available data and information on user characteristics, examining crash statistics, performing statistical analyses, conducting a comprehensive critical review of relevant published research studies, examining human factors design issues, and identifying a set of future research needs. Findings indicate a lack of systematic crash data collection that would help characterize cellular-telep...