One in six Kiwi drivers use their phone at traffic lights, poll finds

Friday, 20 April 2018

Nearly 17 per cent of 3900 people who took part in a Neighbourly poll said they used a mobile phone when stopped at traffic lights.

Is it socially acceptable to use your phone while stopped at traffic lights?

One in six Kiwi drivers think it is OK, according to a Neighbourly poll.

But it's illegal and you risk causing mayhem on the roads, say researchers, who point to studies such as one that refers to a driver who rear-ended the vehicle in front after looking at a text message. The motorist drove off hurriedly when the lights changed.

More than 3900 people took part in the Neighbourly survey, 16.9 per cent of whom said they used their device at the lights and another 8.2 per cent said they used their mobiles while driving.

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'From an observational public user perspective, you know when people are doing it because they don't go when the lights change,' AA motoring affairs general manager Mike Noon said.

He could see that some drivers would think it was all right to use their phone at the lights because they weren't moving, but it's still against the law.

'You've got to have clear rules. If everybody was using their phones at traffic lights, I think you would find that scenario of people slow to start off would be much greater,' Noon said.

Boredom has been suggested as one reason drivers might use their phone when stopped at traffic lights.

He often drove on motorways and there were times when the 'car in front of you is slowing down and speeding up and weaving in the lanes. You think you've got a drunk driver'. But in the end it turned out it's 'because they've got a phone stuck on their head'.

The Neighbourly poll did find many Kiwis do the right thing, with 39.9 per cent saying they pulled over to use the phone and 31.9 per cent revealing they didn't touch the phone while driving.

Research into phone use at traffic lights is sparse. But the authors of a 2014 paper based on research in France wondered if one factor might be 'an addiction-like urge to stay connected and to stay informed'.

The researchers, who observed drivers at three intersections controlled by traffic lights in Lyon, said it was important to work out whether drivers were making active decisions to use phones, or were reacting to 'impulse-driven habits'.

And even if you have no intention of using your phone while behind the wheel, and are only slightly affected by the fear of missing out, there's always that nagging worry - what if the call or text is really important?

It’s against the law to use a handheld device while driving, and that includes while stationary at intersections or in heavy traffic.

You've got a minute or two to kill at the lights, someone wants to tell you something, it just might be something you really want to know. Are you really going to ignore that phone, given there's little chance of getting caught?

For most of us, the calls can almost certainly wait.

The French researchers saw 124 drivers using their phones at the lights and compared them to 124 drivers who weren't. Of those drivers engaged in a 'visual-manual interaction', such as texting or reading emails, 50 started doing so once they had stopped at the lights. Seven were already doing so when they got there. In contrast, of the 67 drivers talking on the phone, 58 were already on the phone when they drew up at the lights.

Of the visual-manual interactions, 18 continued after the lights turned green, while 39 stopped. But with the drivers on calls, 60 carried on after the lights turned green and only seven stopped.

As an indicator of 'impaired situation awareness', the researchers looked at delayed starts after the lights turned green. They found 24 - 19.4 per cent - of the drivers using their phones were slow off the mark. That included 20 drivers (35.1 per cent) engaged in visual-manual interactions.

A French study found 35 per cent of drivers engaging in 'visual-manual interactions' with a phone at traffic lights, were slow off the mark when the lights changed.

In contrast, only four drivers on a call had delayed starts, similar to the eight drivers (6.5 per cent) not using their phones who failed to get away promptly.

The number of drivers who started visual-manual interactions at the lights indicated they might be doing it out of boredom, or because of 'a reflex to check the phone as soon as the opportunity arises'.

The research also found 10 of the 46 drivers who stopped using the phone when they started moving again had a delayed start, as did 14 of those who continued using the phone.

'These data suggest that the distractive effects of phone use might last longer than actual phone use,' the paper said.

It concluded using a phone at a red traffic light was less appropriate than it might seem at first glance.

Visual-manual interactions were a particular hazard, with the findings hinting towards a possible increased crash risk. Some of the crashes could be low severity, such as rear-end collisions, but others could be more serious, such as those involving pedestrians or front-side collisions after red light running by a distracted driver.

A 2015 paper from the US observed 1000 drivers at traffic lights and 1000 in motion. It found found 3 per cent of drivers in motion were texting and 5 per cent were talking. Among the stopped drivers, 14.5 per cent were texting and 6.3 per cent were talking.

The researchers quoted an anecdote from a colleague to indicate how texting could produce a lingering distraction that continued even after the device was put down. 'He reported checking a text message while sitting at the light. After looking up and noticing that the light had turned green, he rushed to accelerate - and promptly rear-ended the car in front of him, which had been slower to take off.'

The study found device use was higher among drivers who didn't wear a seatbelt. The researchers said that could be 'a manifestation of generalised recklessness in this group'.

'It has been shown that frequent device users also 'drive faster, change lanes more frequently … and engage in more instances of hard braking and high acceleration events'.'

Observations in 2013 of more than 37,000 drivers at 52 sites around New Zealand, carried out for the Ministry of Transport, found 4.4 per cent of drivers in stationary vehicles were probably texting, while 1.1 per cent had a phone to their head. With moving vehicles, 1.3 per cent of drivers were probably texting and 1.3 per cent had phones to their heads.