Teen Driver Cell Phone Blocker

摘要

This study was a randomized control intervention to measure the effectiveness of a cellular phone control device that communicates with the vehicles of teen drivers to deny them access to their phone while driving for the purpose of reducing distraction-related negative driving events. Investigators developed and manufactured working samples of the patent-pending cell phone disabling device from the Texas A&M Health Science Center (HSC). The intention was to provide 100 of the devices to families with a newly licensed teen driver. Half of the devices were to be distributed in an urban area (Houston) and the other half in a rural area (Brenham). The 50 participating families and teenagers in each group were to be compared to 50 of their peers (newly licensed teen drivers) who did not receive and install the cell phone disabling device. In total, there were to be 200 teen drivers participating in the project with 100 participants per group: 50 with the device and 50 without the device. Following unforeseen development cost issues and dramatic changes in the target cellular phone market, the HSC device was abandoned for a commercial device already on the market. The comparison with this device was conducted using pre- and post-surveys of parents regarding driving records of teens in both the control (n = 26) and treatment (n = 72) groups. We analyzed vehicle, crash, and moving violation data. Qualitative data were collected in the form of surveys and analyzed using statistical software. Post-surveys of parents and teens were taken at inception and 1 year after the teen entered the study. Surveys inquired about teen involvement in traffic crashes, awareness of performance decrements, attitudes toward the device, issues with usability and quality, and marketability of the device. Due to technology problems, dramatic dropout rates (54% at 12 months), and low initial participation rates, results were limited to conclusions related to the strong resistance of this market to cell phone inhibiting devices and the challenges associated with implementing them on a large scale.