StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Hands-Free Cell Phones on the Road - Report Example

Cite this document
Summary
The paper "Hands-Free Cell Phones on the Road" discusses the issue of using mobile phones that is quite serious and needs to be analyzed as far as every year more and more people die from inattention on roads. Therefore, the issue should be considered from cognitive psychologists’ point…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER97.9% of users find it useful
Hands-Free Cell Phones on the Road
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Hands-Free Cell Phones on the Road"

REPORT: HANDS FREE CELL PHONES ON THE ROAD The issue of using mobile phones is quite serious and needs to be analyzed as far as every year more and more people die from inattention on roads. Statistical evidences showed that, for instance, in the United States distracted driving has had a fatal outcome in 3,092 cases within the past year. Although, a July 2007 study by University of Chicago Booth School of Business Professor Saurabh Bhargava and Cornerstone Research Associate Vikram Pathania found that cell phone usage doesn’t measurable increase the amount of vehicular crashes (Laing 2011). However, hand-held cell phone use while driving is forbidden in most of Western countries, which sets aside a question about hands free cell phone usage. The point is that if hand-held cell phone use is an obvious kind of a driver’s distraction on a road, hands free phones seem to be less harmful and distracting. As far as such a usage of a phone lets a driver do all the required driving actions, technically there is no point to forbid the hands free cell phones while driving. Despite the seeming security of such phone usage, we usually deal with human cognitive functions while driving, so it turns out that being capable of doing automatic actions while driving isn’t quite enough. Thus, the issue should be considered from cognitive psychologists’ point of view in order to understand whether human cognitive activities like memory, attention, reasoning, and problem solving can normally deal with talking on a phone (even the hands free one) while driving. The process of driving requires complex simultaneous usage of human cognitive functions. A person needs to be concentrated on road aware of other participants of the traffic; also, the vehicle driving skills should be involved, so the person needs to remember what to do in different situations on the road and react quickly. The most important cognitive function that should be working during driving is problem solving capability, as far as people deal with human factors of other people on the road. Problem solving is a process that works by switching the two kinds of thinking (analytical and intuitive) one after another when it is needed. Because, dealing with other people, a person often needs either to analyze the further actions or act according to intuition, more spontaneously. Cognitive psychologists claim that most intellectual errors that people make happen because of the clash of two different systems of thinking (Leron&Hazzan 2009). Thus, if a person is not distracted during driving, both analytical and intuitive thinking work cooperatively providing a driver with a very high level of problem solving capability, full attention, and involving into driving process. If to add speaking on a phone to the problem solving process while driving, it could definitely cause a huge cognitive disorder. The reason is that speaking on a phone is a process of analytical thinking (because a person is supposed to listen and response) when driving is both analytical and intuitive process. Thus, if clashes of the different kinds of thinking cause intellectual errors, there is a big probability that the person who deals with such multitasking fails on the road. From this perspective, nothing but driving should be involved in driving process. Another, probably the most active, cognitive process required on the road is attention, which is also oriented to interaction with other drivers. Some studies on different types of attention came out with the conclusion that there are two types of attention central and input attentions (Johnson et.al. 1995). Central attention deals with the current process a person is involved in and process the incoming data concerning this process. Input attention deals with information that comes from some aside stimuli that accompany the main process, so this kind of attention is minor. Evidences show that if input attention is not overloaded by information, a person is able to keep both attentions balanced. But if input attention receives too much information or is being kept on some energy-intensive process, the central attention starts failing, so both major and minor processes will eventually collapse (Johnson et.al. 1995, p.366). Thus, if to presuppose that driving has the central attention, all the incoming information during the process will be processed correctly. But if to add a phone talk as a minor process, it will overload the input attention and both processes more likely will fail. Other evidences against hands free cell phones usage can be found in recent researches on the effect of visual attentional load on plasticity on human motor complex made by Australian neurobiologists and cognitive psychologists. They claim that the processes that require increased attentional demands suppress other cognitive functions because once a person deals with such processes, they can’t be distracted by anything else, otherwise the visual attention will not be kept (Kamke et.al. 2012). As far as driving process requires a very high level of visual attention, the additional process like speaking on a phone is definitely destructive for normal attention while driving. The extent to which people can focus attention in the face of distractions critically depends on the type and complexity of information load involved in their current task (Lavie 2010). If visual attention is one of the most complicated and energy-intensive, it needs a high level of concentration, especially when we deal with driving, which is a process of life-and-death matter. Considering the theory about dominance of visual attention it is important to note that the process of driving includes another crucial cognitive function of memory. Drivers should constantly keep in their minds all the road laws and follow them. Although, the researches on memory revealed that if there are distracting factors while process of remembering, a person can lose the target of remembrance (road rules) (Wright & Osborne 2005). Therefore, loosing of the target can eventually lead to forgetting of some road rules and getting into an accident. The fact that speaking on a phone while driving a car is distracting in some way is obvious, even if we consider hands free cell phones because they require the cognitive functions of listening and speaking as well as the hands-held phones. The only difference between them is that hands free cell phones allow a driver to move more freely. Although, dealing with both driving and talking on phone includes too many cognitive actions for human brain to process them simultaneously. The main function that becomes under threat and is extremely needed during driving is decision making. Several researches on human decision making revealed some significant results about how distraction can influence decision making for the worse. If a person is being involved into two simultaneous actions (driving and talking on a phone), when it comes a situation on the road, that needs to be solved immediately, the person distracted by phone conversation will more likely make a wrong decision (Noll & Krier 1990). The reason why this happens lays in cognitive psychological dual process theory. It claims that human brain strives to make decisions in the easiest way, so it can skip some information considering it as unnecessary in order to think less. If focusing on some process (driving) a brain should also handle another process (speaking), so it can give signals to the body to drive almost automatically not to waste too much intellectual energy. Thus, when it comes an accident situation such disturbance and brain’s unwillingness to solve the problem can be fatal (Leron & Hazzan 2009). The evidences presented above prove that hands free cell phone usage can be a serious distraction for drivers. First of all, it is difficult for brain to focus on different activities simultaneously. Even though a driver that uses hands free cell phone has a freedom of movements, still there are too many cognitive functions involved in doing both of the processes. Also, as far as driving requires a lot of attention and especially visual one, speaking on a phone will interrupt driving concentration and the driver will skip a lot of visual information on the road. This can lead to wrong decision making in some extreme situations. Thus, the problem solving function can work less efficient when a driver’s brain is simultaneously busy with two cognitive processes that require thinking. Despite all the possible distractions, many people manage to use hands free cell phones during driving and stay concentrated on the road. The compromise on the issue can be reached by certain limitations of hands free phones, for instance, by limiting the amount of time people can use the phones while driving. Still it is almost impossible to measure how much time people spend talking on hands free cell phones. Anyways, if to look at the issue from the point of view that driving shouldn’t be distracted by anything and a driver must be focused on the road only, it is possible to argue against hands free cell phones and forbid them as well as the hands-held ones. References Keith Laing, 2011, "LaHood Steers Clear of Hands-free Cell Phone Use While Driving Debate," viewed Jan 28, 2015 from: http://www.procon.org/headline.php?headlineID=005051 Noll, R.g. and Krier, J.E., 1990, ‘Some Implications of Cognitive Psychology for Risk Regulation’, The Journal of Legal Studies, 19(2), 747-779. Wright D.B. and Osborne, J.E., 2005, ‘Dissociation, Cognitive Failures, and Working Memory’, The American Journal of Psychology, 118(1), 103-114. Leron, U. and Hazzan, O., 2009, ‘Intuitive vs Analytical Thinking: Four Perspectives’, Educational Studies in Mathematics, 71(3), 263-278. Lavie, N., 2010, ‘Attention, Distraction, and Cognitive Control Under Load’, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(3), 143-148. Kamke, M.R., Hall, M.G., Lye, H.F., Sale, M.V., Fenlon, L.R., Carroll, T.J., Riek, S. and Mattingley, J.B., 2012, ‘Visual Attentional Load Influences Plasticity in the Human Motor Cortex’, The Journal of Neuroscience, 32(20), 7001-7008. Johnston, j.C., McCann, R.S. and Remington, R.W., 1995, ‘Chronometric Evidence for Two Types of Attention’, Psychological Science, 6(6), 365-369. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(Hands-Free Cell Phones on the Road Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words, n.d.)
Hands-Free Cell Phones on the Road Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words. https://studentshare.org/psychology/1857581-write-a-1500-word-report-as-a-cognitive-psychologist-which-can-be-used-to-influence-policy-scenario-1-use-of-hands-free-phones-in-cars
(Hands-Free Cell Phones on the Road Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words)
Hands-Free Cell Phones on the Road Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words. https://studentshare.org/psychology/1857581-write-a-1500-word-report-as-a-cognitive-psychologist-which-can-be-used-to-influence-policy-scenario-1-use-of-hands-free-phones-in-cars.
“Hands-Free Cell Phones on the Road Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words”. https://studentshare.org/psychology/1857581-write-a-1500-word-report-as-a-cognitive-psychologist-which-can-be-used-to-influence-policy-scenario-1-use-of-hands-free-phones-in-cars.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Hands-Free Cell Phones on the Road

Behavior and manners

I saw that he was trying to grab his cell phone from the back seat that his kid had thrown there.... Mom was right when she told me manners (hook).... I regret showing bad manners to a person one day, because that had me pay for being uncivil.... One goes through many events in one's life when one has to experience civility or incivility from others, and it is a matter of great heart not to take revenge....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Consumer Protection Act in the UK

There are many laws that govern the buying and selling of products in a business.... These laws specifically the rights of the consumers are outlined in various acts and laws.... The most common are the misrepresentation Act of 1967, Trade Description Act of 1968, the Unfair contract Terms Act of 1977, the 1979 Sale of Goods Act, the Consumer Protection Act of 1987, the Sale and Supply of Goods Act of 1994 and the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations of 2002....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Identify Law

The law bans the drivers from using moveable electronic devices (they include blackberries, laptops and cell phones) and any other types of... The state of Washington has two driving laws that are associated with the use of cell phone; these laws began in 2008.... The hands free cell phone law forbids the utilization of a wireless device like a cell phone on the ear while driving.... The ordinance is not on the hands-free but a text messaging total ban....
4 Pages (1000 words) Research Paper

Talking on the phone while driving should be legal in Florida

Although there are some risks by allowing Florida drivers to talk on the phone while traveling on the road, Talking on the phone while driving should be legal in Florida Driving while distracted can have grave danger for the driver of a car and his or her passengers.... Although there are some risks by allowing Florida drivers to talk on the phone while traveling on the road, I believe that there are many more benefits to be gained by allowing it.... I agree that letting drivers talk on a phone held up to their ear may be dangerous because drivers will not be focused on the road ahead of them....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Extra Credits of Vehicle Operations

The latest revision of… In that, the law prohibits all motorists from using their mobile phones, to transmit type and read text messages or emails except in situations where, it is a Extra credits Indiana 9-21-8 deals with vehicle operations where the gives the road users ways in which they should use the roads to avoid accidents.... In that, the law prohibits all motorists from using their mobile phones, to transmit type and read text messages or emails except in situations where, it is a hands free technology or where the individual is calling 911....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Designing and Developing for Google Glass

As a result, this is a credible gadget for any consumer especially on the road.... In other words, this gadget may reduce road accidents caused by drivers searching for directions from other hands-on gadget.... This hands-free gadget projects images onto a transparent screen suspended in front of the eyes....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Little Girl Sharon

The paper "Little Girl Sharon" contains a short story about Sharon who was only 8 years old when she ended up in this orphanage and now six months have passed but she could not sleep since she lost her parents.... She remembers that day when she woke up in a hospital bed with a broken leg.... hellip; Suddenly he received a call and he rushed out of the door and she could see something fell out of his pocket....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Distraction While Operating an Automobile

2) Cognitive – taking our mind off driving on the road and 3) Manual – removing one's hands from the steering wheel.... Distractions on the road by a driver are the leading causes of the accidents that take place.... Safety must be the Buzzword or the Motto of all drivers on the road because life once lost cannot be regained again.... rdquo; The three types of distractions are – 1) visual – taking our eyes off the road....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us