The Prevalence of Cell Phone Use while Driving in Alberta

Abu Sadat Nurullah Department of Sociology University of Alberta

Background

Gradual increase of cell-phone use while driving

Talking on a cell phone increases crash risk by about 4 times (McEvoy et al. 2005; Redelmeier and Tibshirani, 1997)

Objective

To explore the current state of self-reported cell phone use while driving among Albertans aged between 18 and 65+.

Albertans’ attitude towards the danger and banning/ allowing the use of cell phone while driving

Previous Research

In Canada, 37% of drivers reported using a cell phone while driving in the past week, although 66% thought it is a very serious road safety problem (Vanlaar et al. 2006)

Alberta has the highest rate of cell phone use while driving, and Nova Scotia the lowest (Burns et al. 2008 )

Theories

Cognitive and visual deficiency (Drews, Pasupathi, & Strayer, 2008; Strayer, Drews, & Crouch, 2006)

Theory of planned behavior (Ajzen,

1991; Walsh & White, 2006; 2007)

Methodology

Data The 2007 Annual Alberta Survey the overall response rate is 36.5 %

Sample 1,185 participants

Results

Talk on a cell phone while operating a vehicle: 49.1%

Don’t have a cell phone: 21.2%turn off 6.2%voicemail 6.6%get off the road 7.3%other 6.9%do not drive 1.7%

Results (cont…)

Talk on a cell phone while operating a vehicle is dangerous: yes = 92.8% (87.3%)

How dangerous? slightly 6.5% (10.1%)

v/dangerous67.5% (50.8%)

Results (cont…)

Collision risk: unlikely 26.6% (41.8%)

v/likely 69.1% (56.5%)

Support a provincial law that bans the use of cell phones while driving:

yes = 72.7% (59.1%)

Logistic Regression

Significance

Understanding the prevalence of cell-phone related impaired driving among Albertans aged 18 to 64+

Diverse usage pattern of cell phone while driving within various socio-economic and demographic segments of the population in Alberta

Policy Implication

Restricting / banning the use of cell phones while driving in Alberta

Enforcement of cell phone bans produced longer term reductions in use (McCartt & Hellinga, 2007)

46 countries have banned the use of handheld phones while driving

In Canada, ban in Newfoundland and Labrador, Québec, and Nova Scotia (and in Ontario as of Oct. 26, 2009)

Limitation and Future Direction

Self-reports survey Other in-vehicle information (e.g., GPS)

and entertainment systems (e.g., music player, TV), and other distracting factors (e.g., eating and drinking, applying make-up)

Using GPS/ satellite monitoring to trace the actual use of cell phones while driving

Thank you