Car Talk


BY LINDA BAKER

Everyone knows cell phones and driving are a lethal combination. The risk is especially high for teenage drivers, whose delusions of immortality pose such a threat to us all. Enforcement alas, remains feeble; more promising are pedagogical approaches aimed at getting people to focus on the road, not their devices.

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BY LINDA BAKER

0415-next01 620pxwEveryone knows cell phones and driving are a lethal combination. The risk is especially high for teenage drivers, whose delusions of immortality pose such a threat to us all. Enforcement alas, remains feeble; more promising are pedagogical approaches aimed at getting people to focus on the road, not their devices. A study of 3,000 teenage drivers in the Pacific Northwest shows that “interactive” methods may have the greatest impact. One tactic involves installing in-car monitors that register the indicators of distracted driving — i.e., slamming on brakes and zigzag driving. That data is then used as a gentle prod.

“If we provide a meaningful presentation of information to the student in the presence of the parent, that can get teens to adjust their behavior in positive ways,” says David Hurwitz, a coauthor of the study and an assistant professor of transportation engineering at Oregon State University. In person feedback also helps mitigate “the optimism bias,” an insidious psychological mechanism that makes each of us think we are better drivers than the addled and distracted drivers around us.

The study, funded by the Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium, a new initiative involving five universities, yielded other useful insights: In a tech-driven world, teens disregard the dangers posed by more mundane activities like eating, drinking, changing clothes and adjusting the radio. Girls talk more on the phone; boys tend to look away from the road while talking to people.

”Anything that takes your attention away from the road two seconds or longer can increase the risk of an accident from four to 24 times,” says Hurwitz. But Hurwitz, the father of two young children — by the time they come of age, “driving will be heavily automated” — remains upbeat. “The research shows interactive training has a positive impact on the perceptions of teenagers.” 

Linda Baker is the editor of Oregon Business.