Driving using mobile - Radio Advert

zurbfoundation

There's an advert on radio publicising the penalty for driving while using a mobile phone - 3 points and some cash. They state it's as dangerous as driving whilst under the influence - I would imagine this is based on some scientific research or else they would be in trouble with the advertising stardards authority.

My question is, if their claim is true, why are the penalties for driving whilst using a mobile phone the same as driving while under the influence?

CiniO

Driving under influence is gradual, and its dangerousness depends on BAC level.

Walter2016

At least when driving with mobile you can react quicker and better than when you're pissed.

biko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vFcIpzF7pc

GM228

zurbfoundation wrote: »

There's an advert on radio publicising the penalty for driving while using a mobile phone - 3 points and some cash. They state it's as dangerous as driving whilst under the influence - I would imagine this is based on some scientific research or else they would be in trouble with the advertising stardards authority.

My question is, if their claim is true, why are the penalties for driving whilst using a mobile phone the same as driving while under the influence?

It's based on a number of studies.

From the RSA:-

The results of epidemiological studies strongly suggest that using a mobile phone while driving can increase the risk of being involved in a road collision up to four times.
Probably the most famous and most frequently cited epidemiological study about the risks of mobile phone use while driving is the study of Redelmeier and Tibshirani (Redelemeir & Tibshirani, 1997). The researchers found that the risk of a collision when using a mobile phone was four times higher than the risk when a mobile telephone was not being used. The results of the study also suggested that hands-free phones offered no safety advantage over handheld units. Similar findings were achieved in other epidemiological studies (Laberge- Nadau, et al., 2003), (McEvoy, et al., 2005),

A large number of studies have shown that using a mobile phone (a cognitive task) while driving degrades driving performance, (Parkes & Hooijmeijer, 2000), (Haigney, Taylor, & Westerman, 2000) (Strayer, Drews, & Johnston, 2003) (Strayer & Johnston, 2001), (Consiglio, Driscoll, Witte, & Berg, 2003) (Rakauskas, Gugerty, & Ward, 2004) (Tornros & Bolling, 2005) (Cooper, Zheng, Christian, Vavrik, Heinrichs, & Siegmund, 2003) (Hancock, Lesch, & Simmons, 2003) (Patten, Kircher, Ostlund, & Nilsson, 2004) (Liu & Lee, 2005), (Just, Keller, & Cynkar, 2008). (Caird, Willness, Steel, & Scialfa, 2008), (Hamada, 2008),

Mobile phone use and drink driving

The comparison of mobile phones with alcohol impairment continues to attract researchers because of the already established thresholds and risks for alcohol impairment. In 2002, a study by the Transport Research Laboratory in the UK found that while driving while intoxicated is clearly impaired, certain aspects of driving performance are even more impaired by mobile phone use. (Burns, Parkes, Burton, Smith, & Burch, 2002). A similar study in 2006 that mobile-phone drivers may exhibit greater impairments than intoxicated drivers. (Strayer, Drews, & Crouch, 2006). However it should be noted that both studies found that length of impairment was obviously far less for the mobile phone users.

colm_mcm

You can stop using a phone instantly though. You can't just stop being drunk.

Campaigns like this undermine the message IMO. Like 4/5 smokers will die of a tobacco related illness. They don't say how many non smokers die of a tobacco related (as opposed to caused by) illness though. Anyone with half a brain knows this is misleading. I for one tune out at that point.


Heres one I just made up.
Sneezing while driving makes you 17 times more likely to crash than being over the legal alcohol limit.
Based on non stop sneezing over a 20 minute drive.

Atlantic Dawn

I'd rather get in the car with someone with 4 pints on them than someone taking a constant call for the journey if I had to choose between the two.

Skyfarm

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

I'd rather get in the car with someone with 4 pints on them than someone taking a constant call for the journey if I had to choose between the two.

on them like a jacket like? or in as drank the devil water?

to be fair if thats your mindset,get drunk and ring friends while you drive around at breakneck speed,before you do that ,visit a morgue and pick a pillow

CiniO

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

I'd rather get in the car with someone with 4 pints on them than someone taking a constant call for the journey if I had to choose between the two.

I'd definitely prefer to be in a car with someone talking on mobile for 2 hours, than someone after 4 pints.

zurbfoundation

colm_mcm wrote: »

You can stop using a phone instantly though. You can't just stop being drunk.

Campaigns like this undermine the message IMO. Like 4/5 smokers will die of a tobacco related illness. They don't say how many non smokers die of a tobacco related (as opposed to caused by) illness though. Anyone with half a brain knows this is misleading. I for one tune out at that point.


Heres one I just made up.
Sneezing while driving makes you 17 times more likely to crash than being over the legal alcohol limit.
Based on non stop sneezing over a 20 minute drive.

Yes this is more my point - if they are making the claim that one is as dangerous as the other (which we all seem to agree on) - then how come the penalties are on opposite ends of the punishment scale? shouldn't they be the same?

Seth Brundle

zurbfoundation wrote: »

Yes this is more my point - if they are making the claim that one is as dangerous as the other (which we all seem to agree on) - then how come the penalties are on opposite ends of the punishment scale? shouldn't they be the same?

Fear of anger from the voters!