Mobile communications, driver distraction and vehicle accidents

Research on the use of telephones by drivers has addressed both the physical and cognitive challenges presented during the driving task. We discuss some of the issues raised by this research, and note the importance of coordinating on-the-road studies with simulator experiments. We also examine the methodological problems associated with conducting analyses of data drawn from traffic accident reports. Several results from our recent study of these accident data are presented that help situate the issue of mobile telephones in the broader context of cognitive challenges while driving.