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Further implications
Research has indicated some increase in driver distraction as a result of mobile phones and has linked distraction to a likely increased incidence of accidents. However, real world data, as opposed to that produced via simulators, has not shown the dramatic increase in accidents that the high level of mobile phone use would appear to predict.
Thus, the need for a total ban on the use of all types of mobile phones by car drivers depends on one's perspective. Such a ban is likely to produce some reduction in the road toll; however, relative to focusing on other causes of accidents the reduction is likely to be small. Therefore the question remains is the imposition of such a ban justified by the level of increased road safety it would produce.
Though it has been claimed that such a ban would be difficult to implement, technological advances could be used to make it possible for traffic police to detect when drivers were using mobile devices.
Fred Mannering, a Purdue University civil engineering professor who is associate director of the United States Center for Road Safety, has claimed that since all mobile phones emit signals, a Bluetooth detection device could be used to determine if a driver were using a mobile phone.
Computers are already common in patrol cars, and Professor Mannering has suggested that a relatively cheap add-on could fit them to track mobile phone signals.
However, critics argue that such a procedure would fail to determine the extent of the distraction being caused by the mobile phone use and so any prosecutions as a result of such devices may well be extreme and unnecessary.
Such procedures would make it possible to detect and charge drivers using hands-free technology to listen to music, recorded books or as GPS devices. Given that using paper maps has been shown to constitute a significantly higher distraction, it seems counter-productive to use detection technology to prohibit the use of these devices.
This is an issue which is likely to be resolved through the use of in-car technology by all drivers. Modern vehicles are increasingly being sold equipped with built-in communications systems that include mobile phone connectivity. Such vehicles allow the mobile phone and many other features within the car to be voice operated, thus removing the distractions currently associated with sound systems using CDs or cassettes and dial or push-button-operated radios.
There is even technology being developed to monitor road conditions and the physiological state of the driver so that the in-car distractions s/he receives can be appropriately reduced. Thus, in demanding driving situations, mobile phone communication could be automatically blocked.
(Please note: the observations made above relate to general mobile phone use by drivers. Research in many jurisdictions has demonstrated that texting while driving creates a much higher risk of accident than engaging in mobile phone conversations while driving.)