Road Traffic Environment and Mobile Phone

Discuss about the Road Traffic Environment and Mobile Phone.

According to the World Health Organization report (2005), has established how more than 1.2 million people die and nearly 50 million are injured annually from a road accident. These accidents cause family trauma and burden on the global health. The report has explained that distractions caused mobile phone use by drivers have significantly been contributing to road accidents witnessed recently. Oviedo-Trespalacios et al. (2005) and Haque, M, et al. (2016) explain how drivers’ interaction with the mobile phone and distraction created to reduce the driver focus on the road, therefore increasing the prevalence of causing the road accident and reckless driving. In fact, they argue that the likelihood of causing an accident by distracted drivers is high compared to non-distracted drivers.

Studies conducted in Australia in 2007 by Evoy S, et al. have examined how phone distraction has resulted in road accidents in the series of reported cases.  The study shows that high numbers of casualties in hospitals are as a result of road accidents in which the drivers were using a mobile phone while driving. The statistics have shown it has contributed to more than 14% of recorded crashes.

Recently, a reported case of four people killed in an accident in South Australia’ south-east, was found that the driver was using GPS in seconds before the accident (ABC News, 2015). The driver, who survived the accident, accepted to have been distracted by use of phone GPS navigation system and could not see the road intersection where he failed to give-way. It is at the heart of this project proposal to establish GPS as one of the social problems that contribute to the road crashes in Australia. The proposal will also provide on how the problem would be solved or reduced.

Question: Recently, there has been a lot of Car Accidents Related to Using Smart Phones while Driving. One Reason is that they were looking for GPS System on their Phones. How would this Problem be solved?

1. Smart Phone: This is a handheld device in the form of a personal computer running on mobile the operating system. The phone has capabilities to make calls, SMS, and connect to the internet.
2. GPS System: It abbreviates “Global Position System.” According to Wikipedia (2018, update), “It is a global navigation satellite system that provides geolocation and time information to a GPS receiver anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS”

This research question aims to find a solution to increase in car accidents due to distractions caused by mobile smartphone. If this research question is answered, the government and other transport agencies can use the data on solving the numerous road accidents caused by the use of smartphone GPS navigation system while driving. For instance, it should be a requirement for all cars to be fitted with navigation system so that the drivers will not have use smartphone GPS system.

Most of the studies conducted in the recent past have concentrated much on the broader aspect of how drivers are distracted by using mobile phones while driving. The studies have left gaps for not addressing specific activities and reasons as to why the drivers are using their phones while driving. This project proposal has shifted the focus to the specific reasons for the use of mobile phone while driving regardless of the risk of causing an accident.  This is the starting point for getting the solution to the increasing number of car accidents in Australia.

At this part, the approach of the whole research will be explained in detail. Under this subsection, the research design and the areas of study are explained into detail, as well as the population of the study, the population, the population sample and sampling techniques used, data collection instruments, administration, and analysis of the data.

Survey research design is the most suited approach to solving this research problem of this study. Therefore, the approach will be used in finding solutions to the research problem whereas achieving the intended study objective.

In this approach, survey research is conducted on a population by getting a sample to represent the whole population. A sample is a portion or a part of a particular population in a study that is used as the representative of the whole and the findings generalized to the whole population. To conduct the research survey, drivers’ opinions were collected by use of questionnaire online in gas stations in Brisbane.

Delimitation of the Study

The proposal sought the opinion and perspectives of the drivers, both men, and women of different ages in Brisbane were sought on GPS use and its connections with accidents due to driver distractions. They are expected to answer the questions related to drivers’ experience and the distractions caused by mobile phone use when driving.

The proposal targeted drivers, both men, and women in Australia, but the researcher is only able to access a population of drivers, both men, and women in Brisbane.

The study preferred drivers as the most appropriate population of the study because they constitute the dramatis-personae responsible for the roads. Most of these drivers have many years of experience in driving and therefore, stand a chance of providing the most needed and relevant information that capture quality evidence that allows us to lead to the formulation of convincing and credible answers to our research question and evaluate the outcomes. The proposal aims to reach more than 100 drivers in two weeks from 20 gas stations around Brisbane. Due to time limitation, the study will use at least five researchers to do the survey.

The Sample of the Population

When the population is small enough it may warrant the researcher to include everyone in the research, but when the population is large and widely distributed studying it whole may be impossible, expensive and time-consuming. To study such large population, a small part of it is taken as the sample. A sample is the representative of the whole population. The sample of the study is 100 drivers in Brisbane. To encourage them into filing the questionnaire, the survey will be offered online as they want to pay. This will attract about 40% of the drivers to fill the survey, so the appropriate analysis of the data that would help answer the question is quantitative data.

A random sampling procedure was used to select the participants in the study. This technique is more suitable because drivers were filling the forms randomly as long as they wish to give their opinion and make it count. The questionnaires were made available at ten gas stations around Brisbane. The study targeted 100 drivers in two weeks.

The researcher designed a questionnaire to help in the research survey. The questionnaires were at supplied to the gas stations in Brisbane while others were online where the drivers could easily access them as they pay. The respondents were expected only to indicate their age and sex and no other personal information required.

Methods of data collection

The questionnaires are distributed to the gas stations and administered to the intended population. A hundred questionnaires were given out and competed in two weeks. The five researchers collected the filled questionnaires and the data entered in the spreadsheet. The questionnaire included the following:

Question 1: Age…………………………Sex:………………………………..

Question 2: Have you ever had a car accident before? Yes………………..No…………………

Question 3: If your answer is yes in question (2) above, give the reason for the cause of accident…………………………………………………………………………………….

Methods of Data Analysis

The data collected is analyzed and statistically weighed using Microsoft excels in a manner to provide the solution to the research question. Graphical presentations of the data were also used.

There were 92 respondents across the ten gas stations in Brisbane, and the response rate was 92%. The drivers’ demography and characteristics were:

1. 78 male respondents were over 35 years out of the 92 total respondents
2. Young adults and youths in both sexes: 5 respondents, one female, and five
3. The rest were women of over 35 years

Most of the respondents have never been involved in a major accident. Only 32 out of the 92 respondents have had an accident before. Surprisingly, 21 respondents in those who have had an accident before accepted the cause of the accident as their fault. Most indicated environmental distractions. The two respondents were using GPS navigation system the time the accident happened. From the findings, we concluded that use of mobile phone GPS system has contributed to car accidents in Australia.

The study has been able to tackle a specific problem on GPS use and how it increases the risk of causing car accidents. This is an added knowledge on how to approach the field of mobile phone distractions to the drivers. The study has added to the previous studies on phone use while driving by pointing out the real use of the phone that has led to the accident.

References

Driver distracted by GPS in an accident that killed four family members. (2015, March 10). Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-10/driver-distracted-by-gps-in-smash-that-killed-doyle-family/6296590

Evoy, S., Stevenson, M. (2007). An exploration of the role of driver distraction in serious road crashes. In: IJ Faulks et al., eds. Distracted driving. Sydney, Australasian College of Road Safety, 189 211.

Global Positioning System. (2018, June 6). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System

Haque, M, M., Oviedo-Trespalacios, O., Debnath, A., Washington, S (2016). Gap Acceptance Behavior of Mobile Phone—Distracted Drivers at Roundabouts. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. 2602:43–51.

Oviedo-Trespalacios, O., Haque, M, M., King, M., (2015). Washington S, editors. Influence of road traffic environment and mobile phone distraction on the speed selection behaviour of young drivers. Driver Distraction and Inattention Conference DDI 2015; Sydney.

The Global Burden of Disease: (2004) ( update). Geneva, World Health  Organization, 2008 (http://www.who. int/healthinfo/global_burden disease/GBD report 2004update AnnexA.pdf, (accessed on 7 June 2018 ).

World Health Organization, (2015). Global status report on road safety. Geneva: 2015 9241565063.