Smartphones remain a crucial tool for individuals, serving as a source of information and entertainment in addition to traditional calls and texts. However, smartphones have their fair share of problems. The use of smartphones when driving is one of the most common causes of car crashes.
Increasing cases of accidents due to distracted driving raise concern about road safety worldwide. This article examines the numerous ways in which the use of smartphones contributes to increased road accidents.
Ways Through Which Smartphone Use Increases Accident Risks
There are two main ways in which using smartphones while behind the wheel increases the risk of a car crash.
1. Using a smartphone causes distracted driving
Smartphones incorporate a wide range of exciting features and functionalities that remain attractive to users; drivers are not exempt. Below are some of the functionalities that may be tempting to use while driving:
a) Texting and calling
Drivers, just like other people, need to keep in communication with their family, friends, colleagues, clients, and many other different people. It is common for drivers to receive calls or texts, which are among some of the most used forms of communication. When responding to a call or replying to a text, a driver becomes momentarily distracted. This distraction, regardless of how momentarily it may be, is sufficient to cause an accident.
b) Browsing social media
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Twitter provide an excellent way for people to connect, communicate, and interact. As the use of social media continues to increase, the temptation to browse them even when behind wheels becomes irresistible. The moment you turn to your smartphone to check Facebook or any other social media platform, your attention on the road decreases considerably.
c) Navigating apps
Smartphones provide users with the enhanced ability to download and install a wide range of apps dedicated to different purposes. For instance, these phones support apps that offer financial services, rideshares, and health tips, among others. It is common for drivers, depending on their interests, to navigate through these apps when driving. This navigation through the apps significantly distracts them from driving, hence increasing the risk of an accident.
d) Entertainment
Using smartphones to listen to music, watch videos, and connect to other different forms of entertainment is something common. Among drivers, it is common to connect their phones to their car’s infotainment system. Doing these connections and adjusting the volume and other related features of the entertainment distracts drivers and could easily lead to a car crash.
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Using a smartphone compromises situational awareness
Environmental factors, traffic conditions, vehicle dynamics, and navigation routes are essential aspects when it comes to safe driving. Staying alert to these and other related factors is what amounts to situational awareness. The use of smartphones when driving significantly compromises situational awareness in the following ways:
- Diverting the driver’s attention from the road; looking at your phone to check or reply to a text, receive a call, or browse social media, among other actions causes visual distraction. Any moment a driver diverts his attention from the road to look somewhere else, it increases the possibility of causing an accident.
- Diverting the driver’s mental resources away from the task of driving; driving is a mentally involving task that calls for accurate judgment and timely reaction to different situations as they arise. When you turn to using your phone while driving, a considerable portion of your mental resources get diverted from driving. When this happens, your ability to make accurate judgments and respond to different situations becomes impaired.
- It impairs the driver’s ability to hear approaching vehicles; Listening to music or other auditory forms of entertainment available on smartphones causes auditory distraction. For instance, drivers’ ability to hear approaching vehicles, sirens, or other forms of sound-related clues on the roads becomes affected. Failure to get these clues accurately increases the possibility of getting involved in an accident.
Summary
Smartphones are becoming increasingly useful sources of information and entertainment, in addition to their basic functions of texting and calling. However, amidst these uses, the use of smartphones, especially when driving, increases the risk of car crashes. Compromised situational awareness and distracted driving are some of the common effects of using a smartphone when driving, which are likely to cause a car accident.
