In-car cell phone use and hazards following hands free legislation.
| Autor: | Rajalin S; Liikenneturva (Central Organization for Traffic Safety in Finland), Helsinki, Finland., Summala H, Pöysti L, Anteroinen P, Porter BE |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Zdroj: | Traffic injury prevention [Traffic Inj Prev] 2005 Sep; Vol. 6 (3), pp. 225-9. |
| DOI: | 10.1080/15389580590969166 |
| Abstrakt: | Objective: A new law took effect in Finland at the beginning of 2003 which prohibits the handheld use of mobile phones while driving a motor vehicle. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the law on phone usage and self-reported safety during the first few months and 16 months later to determine whether the initial level of compliance with the law had been sustained. Methods: Data were collected by Gallup home poll before (spring 2002) and after legislation took effect (spring 2003 and 2004). A representative sample of drivers who owned a cell phone (n = 836 to 966) was interviewed each time. On-road observations were also collected in four cities for 2003 and 2004. Results: Just after the law, 97% of drivers were aware of the new hands free legislation. In sharp contrast to the pre-law rate of 16%, 43% reported not using the phone while driving immediately after the law and 41% one year later. The occasional users especially reduced their use of phones while driving. The law was correlated to reductions in self-reported handheld use of cell phones while driving, from 55.6% pre-law to 15.2% immediately after passage. In spite of this change, however, the hands free legislation did not reduce self-reported involvement of Finnish drivers in phone-related hazards. Handheld usage was still lower in 2004 than pre-law (20.0%), but the 32% increase from 2003 was significant. Observational data collected in Finland in 2003 and 2004 showed an even higher upward trend in handheld use (87% increase, from 3.1% to 5.8%; pre-law data were not available), and matched a similar increase reported by McCartt and Geary (2004) in their observational evaluation of New York's handheld mobile phone law. Conclusion: The self-reports indicate that the hands-free law reduced handheld phone use, among occasional users especially, but did not reduce phone-related hazards. The effect of the law on phone use substantially declined within one year. |
| Databáze: | MEDLINE |
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