Texting while driving ‘must stop’

Texting on mobile phones may be responsible for a growing number of accidents, doctors have warned.

Mobile phone use while driving is illegal in the UK – but texting can be hard to detect.

A new study claims that mobile phones may now be responsible for a quarter of accidents in the USA.

In the British Medical Journal, Professor Barry Pless and Dr Charles Pless from McGill University, Canada, believe: "It’s time to act."

They state that the evidence for a causal link between mobile phone use while driving and crash related injuries is not clear cut, but "we can’t wait for perfect evidence before acting".

Given the proliferation of mobile phones, the rate of distracted driving is undoubtedly increasing, they write. Texting is obviously the riskiest activity, whereas hands-free use is probably the least dangerous. Possible interventions they suggest include education, legislation, and technology. "Education is the preferred choice of many, especially governments, because it is inexpensive, inoffensive, and politically ‘easy’."

Health education could involve counselling of individual patients by professionals, or broadly-targeted media campaigns such as public service announcements.

"Legislation also seems promising," they write, but the evidence is inconsistent.

Some studies show that laws prohibiting mobile phones while driving result in reduced phone use but not necessarily in fewer crashes or injuries. Some show both and some show neither.

In addition, higher fines and more licence points, and increases in insurance premiums may also be needed to change drivers’ behaviour and initiate a new culture, they say.

Nowadays in most countries, drink-driving is a criminal offence and carries a strong social taboo, but this took time.

"We cannot accept such a long process in the case of distracted driving," the authors conclude. "The stakes are too high. Doing nothing, or avoiding the tough options, can have disastrous consequences."

Pless, C. and Pless, B. Mobile phones and driving. BMJ 5 February 2014; doi: 10.1136/bmj.g1193 [abstract]