Ava Welty

Introduction to Psychology

10/1/2022

APL Cell Phones and Cars

Cell phones and cars are never a good match. If someone is operating a vehicle, under

almost zero circumstances should they be also using a cell phone. There have been so many

accidents and mistakes using cell phones, and the consequences are severe. While the risks and

the punishments are clear, people continue to drive using phones. Just drive down the street for a

few minutes, and you are likely to see someone on their phone.

Driving using a cell phone has clear reasoning for its problems within psychology. The

term for the problems within it is inattentional blindness. This term means a failure to perceive a

completely visible object in your visible field. As a person is using a cell phone while driving,

the distraction of whatever is going on with the phone often causes people to completely miss

objects and cues within driving a vehicle. People using a phone could miss a stop light, blow

through a stop sign, or mow over a pedestrian because of this inattentional blindness. Obvious

features of their vision are obscured when using a cell phone.

Despite these risks, I still think there are times when using a cell phone to a degree can be

appropriate when driving. Many cars today have a “Carplay” system, where the car has a display

which shows incoming calls and can display directions. I think a display like that which simply

shows directions and allows for calls does not distract to a meaningful degree and still allows the

driver of the car to access important information on their phone.

An interesting research question for this topic would be, is there a correlation between

frequency of driving using a cell phone and driving under the influence. This question would
show whether the carelessness displayed with both driving under the influence and driving with a

cell phone was related. The similarities between these two major problems are clear, and being

able to measure the similarities between who is committing them would be very interesting.