Passenger Vehicle Driver Cell Phone Use Results from the Fall 2000 National Occupant Protection Use Survey.:Research note.

摘要

Quantifying the actual use of cell phones by motor vehicle drivers while they are driving is difficult. The 2000 Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey, a telephone survey conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) from November 2000 to January 2001 and whose results will be published later this year, estimated that 54 percent of drivers usually have some type of wireless phone in their vehicle with them. Fifty-five percent of these drivers report that their phone is on during all or most of their trips and 73 percent reported using their phone while driving. These estimates, however, are not an indication of how many drivers are actually using their cell phone at any specified time. To obtain such an estimate, actual cell phone use by drivers while they are in the act of driving would need to be observed. NHTSA concluded that such observations could be made through its National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) to obtain National estimates of driver cell phone use. NOPUS data collection protocols were expanded to include observation of driver hand-held cell phone use, and such information was collected during the NOPUS conducted during October and November 2000.