Generating a Policy Proposal

Although some states and cities have passed laws to ban texting and using handheld phones while driving, there is no current law to ban all cell phone use while driving. However, according to the National Safety Council (2009), 28 percent of all crashes—1.6 million per year—are caused by cell phone use and texting by drivers. The mission of a new national nonprofit organization called FocusDriven, patterned after Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is to make phone use while driving as illegal and socially unacceptable as drunk driving. US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood supports FocusDriven and its efforts: According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, LaHood said this movement will become “an army of people traveling the countryside” to push for bans on cell phone use and tough enforcement (Schmit, 2010).

As a political advocate interested in this issue, you will be writing a policy proposal that utilizes the current research to propose a solution to the issue and submit it in this assignment.

Please note that your proposal is not an opinion/position paper, and your conclusions need to be based on the scientific research you reviewed earlier. Please follow the typical steps in proper academic writing (planning, outlining, drafting, revising, proofing, and editing) to generate the following proposal structure:

Introduction

In the introduction, you should set up the purpose for the proposal, provide a bit of background on the topic, and present your thesis.

Policy

Now that you have researched a variety of studies (in M4: Assignment 2), compile that information together to create a recommendation for policy makers regarding cell phone use while driving.

1: In a one-page summary, compare and contrast the results of the various studies regarding the cognitive abilities that are affected during cell phone use while driving.

2: Using that research, develop and explain particular recommendations for policy makers. For instance, restrict texting, or regulate the use of hand-held phones. All your recommendations must be supported by your research findings.

3: Based on the gaps in current research, describe the variables, populations, and situations which you would like to see future research address.

Conclusion

Review the important current research, your conclusions from that research, and how the future could look in both policy and research. Keep your goal in mind: To convince the reader to support your current policy proposal and future research to examine this issue more closely.

Your proposal should be written in APA style (which includes a title page with running header and a reference page), and free of typographical and grammatical errors. The body of your proposal should be 4–5 pages long.

The last assignment done!

Preparation for Generating a Policy Proposal

Professor:

PSY363 | Cognitive Psychology

1. Fitch, G. M., Soccolich, S. A., Guo,      F., McClafferty, J., Fang, Y., Olson, R. L., … & Dingus, T. A.      (2013). The impact of hand-held and hands-free cell phone use on driving      performance and safety-critical event risk (No. DOT HS 811 757).

This study was aimed at analyzing the various levels of distraction from hand-held (HH), portable hands-free (PHF), and integrated hands-free (IHF). For the study 204 drivers were recruited and the study was to last 31 days. The recruitment of this drivers was based on a minimum requirement that each driver needed to acknowledge that they normally use the cell phone at least once when driving. The drivers allowed their calls and text messages to be tracked. The results showed that at least 10% of the time they were driving, they were either on phone. It became quite clear that Hand-held cell phones increased safety critical event risk. The research was carried out in a real world set up and the findings were collected on a day to day basis. This research introduced a concept of Safety Critical Event (SCE) risk that will be a good angle of discussion. The SCE’s include actual crashes, near car-crashes and any other crash related conflict.

1. Kahn, C. A., Cisneros, V., Lotfipour,      S., Imani, G., & Chakravarthy, B. (2015). Distracted Driving, A Major      Preventable Cause of Motor Vehicle Collisions:“Just Hang Up and Drive”. Western      journal of emergency medicine, 16(7), 1033.

This research was carried out by The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The research subjects were individuals aged 18-64 and the research was carried out over a period of 30 days. The research showed that 21% of the subjects in UK were on phone while driving and a whopping 69% for the United States. This research also discovered that the younger subjects were texting while driving more than the older subjects who were mostly calling. This research shows that there could be countries with better legislature of policies that the United States could borrow to control this menace.

1. Sanbonmatsu, D. M., Strayer, D. L.,      Biondi, F., Behrends, A. A., & Moore, S. M. (2016). Cell-phone use      diminishes self-awareness of impaired driving. Psychonomic bulletin &      review, 23(2), 617-623.

This research was aimed at proving that cell phone use while driving has a psychological effect. For this research 100 graduates were used. Of the 100, 67 were female and the rest were male. They were divided into two groups cell-phone group and control group. Their ages ranged between 18-41 and they admitted having use the phone while driving. The experiment was carried out in a simulated environment for safety purposes. The cell-phone group drove while talking on phone and the other group drove while the control group never used the phone. It was concluded that first and foremost gender had nothing to do with influencing the results. Secondly it was clear that the use of a cell phone when driving compromised the subjects’ self-regulation and self –knowledge ability and thus they had no control.

1. Caird, J. K., Johnston, K. A.,      Willness, C. R., Asbridge, M., & Steel, P. (2014). A meta-analysis of      the effects of texting on driving. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 71,      311-318.

This research takes a very interesting approach. It compares drunk driving and use of cell phones when driving. It is popularly agreed that do not drink and drive. This study utilized 50 subjects. All of whom were advocated of people not drinking and driving. In fact, 40 of them confessed that they would rather take a cab than drive with a drunk friend. The research method was the analysis of the number of times the 50 individuals used their phones to text while driving. Results show that 33 of them texted at least once and at most 15 times in a day while driving. Of these cases 10 of them had either car crashes or near-car crashes. The research conclusion drawn was that while many people admit that drunk driving is bad they are constantly texting on their phones a habit that is extremely fatal. I will rely on this research to prove that use of cell phone has equal if not more dire effects as drunk driving.

1. Llerena, L. E., Aronow, K. V.,      Macleod, J., Bard, M., Salzman, S., Greene, W., … & Schupper, A.      (2015). An evidence-based review: distracted driver. Journal of trauma and      acute care surgery, 78(1), 147-152.

This study was aimed at analyzing the basic distractors that drivers experience while driving. The subjects were divided into two age groups, teenagers and young adults and the other group was that of Adults and elderly. It was discovered that teenagers were mostly distracted by their cell phones and more specifically 67% admitted to texting while driving. The other age group had distractors such as children crying in the vehicle and phone calls. Interestingly, the most SCE recorded were from those distracted by their cell phones. Therefore, it became clear to me that while cell phones use is risky, other distractions exists and their effect could be fatal. This prompted me to think of a policy that could cover all forms of distraction and not simply the use of a cell phone.

References

Fitch, G. M., Soccolich, S. A., Guo, F., McClafferty, J., Fang, Y., Olson, R. L., … & Dingus, T. A. (2013). The impact of hand-held and hands-free cell phone use on driving performance and safety-critical event risk (No. DOT HS 811 757).

Kahn, C. A., Cisneros, V., Lotfipour, S., Imani, G., & Chakravarthy, B. (2015). Distracted Driving, A Major Preventable Cause of Motor Vehicle Collisions:“Just Hang Up and Drive”. Western journal of emergency medicine, 16(7), 1033.

Sanbonmatsu, D. M., Strayer, D. L., Biondi, F., Behrends, A. A., & Moore, S. M. (2016). Cell-phone use diminishes self-awareness of impaired driving. Psychonomic bulletin & review, 23(2), 617-623.

Caird, J. K., Johnston, K. A., Willness, C. R., Asbridge, M., & Steel, P. (2014). A meta-analysis of the effects of texting on driving. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 71, 311-318.

Llerena, L. E., Aronow, K. V., Macleod, J., Bard, M., Salzman, S., Greene, W., … & Schupper, A. (2015). An evidence-based review: distracted driver. Journal of trauma and acute care surgery, 78(1), 147-152.