Sensationalism and shouting won’t make the no-mobile message click. Fleet Voice.
Wednesday 24 August 2011. Fleet Voice Column.
Reasoned argument is a responsible, considered approach to winning debates and convincing people your case is the right one.
On the other hand, you can simply revert to screaming headlines that scare people in the hope they will be too frightened to argue. Taking a faux moral high ground is another tactic that works hand in glove with putting on the frighteners.
So, welcome to road safety charity Brake’s recent story about mobile phone use in cars.
As all business drivers know, the mobile phone is a wonderful device that lets us carry on working while travelling. We also know full well the legal consequences of using a mobile phone when driving if it’s not attached to a hands-free kit.
Business drivers are also aware of how distracting a mobile phone call can be, even when it’s conducted by a hands-free device. Fleet managers are acutely aware of these facts and any responsible fleet manager will make those driving company vehicles more than conscious of these facts and considerations.
Brake, however, would rather scream that using a mobile phone while driving will ‘result in carnage’. Nothing like using emotive language to get your point across. Mind you, this is a charity whose catchphrase is ‘Stopping the carnage, supporting the victims.’
Wrong and misguided
At face value, it’s hard to argue against a charity set up to promote safer driving. Yet, Brake undermines its very own aims with the sensationalist language it uses and the approach of brow-beating all drivers into submitting to its skewed version of events.
Remember, this is a charity that says speed is bad, regardless of circumstance. Take a closer look at the Government and police’s own statistics and you discover speed is only a major factor in less than 5% of serious or fatal accidents.
Regrettable as any road death is, simply highlighting speed as the major cause of accidents is wrong and misguided. That hasn’t stopped Brake from cherry picking some research from around the world to back up its press release about mobile phone use in cars.
For instance, according to Brake’s release, ‘drivers who talk on a phone of any kind while driving are four times more likely to be involved in a crash that causes injury’.
There’s no doubt that using a phone while driving, even on hands-free, is distracting, but Brake’s statistic to back up this claim is six-years old and comes from a study carried out by the University of Western Australia.
Now, call me a cynic, but mobile phone use in the UK six years ago was quite different to how it is now. The law has changed in that time, and another point is road conditions and driving attitudes are different in Australia. So, it’s tricky to draw accurate information that relates to UK driving from this study.
Nugget
Brake goes on to say that talking on a phone ‘has been shown to be worse than drinking certain levels of alcohol’ and ‘driver reaction times have been found to be 30% slower while using hands-free phone than driving with a blood alcohol level of 80mg alcohol per 100ml blood.’
This nugget of wisdom comes from The Transport Research Laboratory in research carried out in 2009. Fair enough, but RoSPA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) in a review of mobile phone use concluded that the effect on driver reaction times was hindered but nowhere near the level claimed by Brake.
For your views to be treated with respect, first you must address your audience with respect, and this is something Brake resolutely fails to manage with this press release. Yet again, it would rather slather all drivers with the same tar brush.
Brake also completely ignores the key demographic groups who are most at risk from mobile phone use in the car: the young and the elderly. No one wants to look like they’re targeting these oft put-upon categories of driver, so Brake simply condemns all drivers rather than have the courage of its convictions.
Again, RoSPA’s review identified the young and old as the most at risk from using a mobile phone when driving. Why has Brake ignored this in its release? That’s for them to say, or shout in a sensationalist headline given their usual form of communication.
Considered choices
All of this boils down to business drivers, a group that relies heavily on mobile phones to keep UK PLC on its feet in these tough times, unable to take Brake seriously. This is not to say any of us underestimate the dangers of poor driving or inappropriate use of mobile phones while driving.
No, what it means is we are intelligent adults who make considered choices when deciding to use or not use a mobile phone (with a hands-free kit) while at the wheel. Being hectored by a charity with a track record of denigrating drivers simply means Brake’s message cease to have any impact because they start to be ignored regardless of their import.
Another facet Brake fails to consider in its headline-grabbing press releases is the need for better driver education. Not just lecturing drivers from Brake’s position of assumed moral rectitude, we need a far better standard of driver training for our novice road users as they start out on their driving careers.
We need a tougher driving test that includes all aspects of driving in the modern world, from congested cities to fast flowing motorways. Sitting your test in area of the UK could well mean you don’t come into contact with differing types of road conditions. This is not good enough – we need all new drivers to be able to deal with all conditions effectively.
As drivers gain experience, we need ongoing training to further improve skills and awareness. If a driver fails to meet ever improving standards as their driving career continues, they should have to submit to more driver training. A driving licence is a privilege, not a right, and this should be borne in mind by all.
Brake, however, seems to think all drivers are no better than the lowest common denominator. Business drivers are among the safest driver groups on the UK’s roads, yet Brake would consider us in the same sentence as a just-passed-the-test 17-year old novice with no experience of driving on a motorway or clogged city streets.
It’s a nonsense to view drivers in this way. Yes, we agree mobile phone use can impair a driver’s ability at the wheel, but there are also a great many of us who know when it’s good to talk and when it’s good to shut up and leave the phone alone.
Brake needs to stop shouting as if there’s a bad connection and start talking to us in a considered and considerate fashion. Maybe then we’d listen.
Alisdair Suttie
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