The Open University

We need to talk about handsfree: officer understanding of the dangers of handsfree and handheld mobile phone use by drivers


Amount awarded

£23,898

Completed

2023

Making roads safer for…

All road users


Project summary

While hands-free mobile phone use by drivers is not illegal, a vast body of research has shown it is no safer than hand-held phone use.

This project, carried out by the Open University, examined police officer attitudes to, and awareness of, the dangers of handsfree phone use, evaluating how an educational intervention might inform their interactions with distracted drivers.

Some 470 officers from England and Wales took part in an interactive video task designed by researchers at the Open University.

The video features in Are you a focused driver? on the OU’s OpenLearn platform and can be used by anyone who wants to understand just how distracted they are when they use their phone while driving.

Following the task, officer attitudes to the safety of legal hands-free mobile phone use by drivers dramatically changed, with 88% reporting that, in future encounters with phone-using drivers, they would explain the dangers of all phone use, not just hand-held use

The findings of the study have been endorsed by Chief Constable Jo Shiner, the National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Roads Policing.

Download the project report →

Infographics

As part of the project, a series of infographics were developed and shared with all 43 UK police forces. These comprised a poster infographic for police officers, which explains that they shouldn’t recommend handsfree use as a safer alternative to the mobile phone offenders they encounter, and a foldable card to be given to handheld mobile phone offenders.

A two-page PDF handout was also created.

Download PDF handout →
Download poster infographic →
Download foldable card →
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