While Driving Experiment

First off it is important to have a controlled condition in testing the hypothesis so we can determine what changed during the experiment. The only conditions that should be different in this experiment are talking on the cell phone while driving and focusing on the road without distractions (use of a cell phone). A closed course would be best to test the hypothesis because it would need to

We all are probably aware that texting and talking on the phone is a distraction to all drivers and can be very dangerous. Also, we all know there are many other distractions besides texting and driving, and any type of technology can cause a driver to be distracted. Forty-one percent of all drivers use their hands to text in the car while driving, according to Greg Gardner (52). It can cause people to forget about pedestrians or their surrounding areas. People who are distracted often aren’t focused and don’t have both hands on the wheel. According to Bryan Wilson, people may say that cell phones are easy to be pointed out as a problem, but statistics show the damage cell phones can do to a person while they are driving (6). According to Simon Usborne, time spent not looking at the road while talking on the phone is 15% of the time (68). Also, while texting and driving the time spent not looking at the road is 30% of the time (Usborne 69). As technology improves more and more people may feel the need to use their cell phones while driving. According to Melissa Healy, cell phone use can be as dangerous as drunk driving (42). Tests should be done to compare the various ways of sober people under the influence driving also to compare the impact of texting and driving. This would give us a better understanding of just how dangerous driving and being on our phone really is.

In my experiment, the control condition would be the driving map. It is important to have a control condition because

In the article “How The Brain Reacts” by Marcel Just and Tim Keller, the authors describe how they use science to show the brains reaction to what is happening around it when on the road. “Behavioral studies have shown that talking on a cellphone diverts the driver’s attention and disrupts driving performance.” They

To investigate the dangers of texting while driving, a true experiment is needed to determine if texting is a cause of traffic accidents. A true experiment is thought to be the most accurate type of experimental research, and it is the only type that can establish a cause and effect relationship. Thus, a true experiment can find if texting is a cause that affects traffic accidents. To begin, the experiment will take place on a major road, located in an urban city because a large number of fatal traffic accidents occur in urban settings, when vehicles are traveling less than thirty miles per hour. Random assignment will be used to select participants, and place them into two equal groups, so the sample size is representative of age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic level. Random assignment helps eliminate bias between tech savvy teenagers and older adults, or the use of technology between different ethnicities, or income levels. The experiment will include a control and experimental group, and the manipulated variable is texting while driving. The control group will be instructed to drive through the mapped out course, without a cell phone present in the car. However, the experimental group will drive through the same course, with cell phones that are receiving text messages. The experimenters will have a camera in the car that helps them collect data from the both groups. Each driver will be evaluated on, the number of times they send a text message, the number of

The Mythbusters tested the idea that driving while talking on a cell phone is just as dangerous as driving drunk. To test this, they had two people attempt the same driving course three times: once sober with no distractions, once sober while distracted by a phone conversation, and once intoxicated. The independent variables in this experiment are, therefore, the use of a cell phone and the driver’s alcohol level. The dependent variable is the driver’s ability to successfully complete the course, including stopping on time and avoiding the cones outlining the course.

For this experiment a closed course is recommended in order to limit the danger of the test to both the test subject and others. During the test there should be less distractions’ such as listening to the radio and talking to the passenger in the car. The primary reason for eliminating other distracting factors is to test the hypothesis that texting while driving interferes with driving skills. Also the main reason why the control test is performed is to compare the conditions of the people texting while driving. From here, the next stage or step would be assigning subjects ( both male and females) people to the test. This test should consist of a diverse group of both male and female and should be chosen from a wide range of ages. During the test the subjects should be given the same conditions to drive in, such as using; the same car (vehicle), and at the same time of day in order to make this test valid and accurate. From there the next step would be to check if the test is fair for those in the control group as compared to those driving while on the cell phone. In this experiment the subjects should drive first in the control conditions, then while on the

Cell phones distract drivers everyday. Cell phones can pull people's attention away and onto their phone. Cell phones even cause fatal crashes. Studies have shown that cell phones pull a drivers attention away, and onto their phones, causing their reaction time to slow down. In my experiment, I will be testing to see if it is true, that cell phones slow down your reaction time. If cell phones do affect reaction time, then it would show how cell phones do affect us while driving.

According to the National Safety Council, there are reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes and about 330,000 injuries a year. Nearly 1 in 4 car accidents in the United States are caused by texting while driving, but how do we know if cell phone use while driving is the leading cause. One of the biggest problems with these statistics is that there is no knowledge of which that proves texting impairs driving. I believe that an experiment will have to be conducted to prove this theory, so I have come up with an idea for conducting such an experiment.

The most effective way I could think of testing the claim that using a cell phone while driving is dangerous is by conducting a research study. The research study that I chose to conduct is an experimental study. What my research study will consist of is using random sampling to generate how many people will participle in the study. The reason I’m doing this is so I can get a good representation of drivers in the population. On Using a driving simulator, everyone that was chosen for the study will go through three simulations that will overall indicate how good or bad the driver did. The first simulation will consist of participants driving around a neighborhood, many different obstacles’ such as people, animals, or a children’s ball will pop

During the testing of which is more dangerous: drunk driving or using your cell phone while driving three experimental conditions were used during the hypothesis. One of those conditions was regular driving. They took two people of the different sex and tested their driving on a driving course without any influence being involved. The next condition was cell phone-driving; one of the experimenter’s used a cell phone to talk to the same two people. While talking to them on the phone he delivered three different tasks for them to do to assure they were distracted. The last condition was drunk driving; both experimenters drunk the same amount of beer and was given a breathalyzer test to assure the amount of alcohol was past the legal amount. They

A control condition, also known as a control group, is an important part of an experimental design because it allows one to identify other factors that might be causing the effect that is being examined. In this particular case bad driving is the effect that is being examined. If a control condition was not used, researchers may conclude that adults who use cell phones while driving are bad drivers. However, the study would not distinguish between bad driving caused by talking on the phone versus drivers exhibiting bad driving habits. Variables that interfere with each other and their possible effects are known as confounding variables. Confounding variables can be eliminated by using a control group. Without using a control group in this study

When conducting an experiment on whether talking on a cell phone impairs driving, there are several areas of discussion to consider. These include, the age of the participants, the controlled conditions, and other distracting agents. In creating an experiment to test the hypothesis that talking on a cell phone impairs driving skills, you first need to select the group of people to do the experiment. For this experiment, I would choose individuals, both male and female, who are older than sixteen and spaced out in years. That way there are a variety of age groups, and the question, does talking on a cell phone impair driving skills in teenagers, adults, or both, can be answered. If the participants are all the same age, it would be difficult

Although cell phones appear to be harmless devices, they are proven to be detrimental and unsafe to prolonged users. Cell phone users need to be more aware of the potential consequences of improper usage. Mobile phone radiation and health concerns have elevated, especially after the enormous increase in the use of mobile phones. Furthermore, texting while driving is a risk that many individuals take, and could lead to serious, life-threatening consequences. Nevertheless, there are quite a few solutions that may help a cell phone user in preventing the potential consequences of prolonged cell phone use. Without a doubt, many individuals continue to text while driving, partly because the communications industry is somewhat responsible for

Hands free cell phone usage should not be used while driving based on evidence that shows that the use a cell phone while driving leads to more driving mistakes and overall lack of awareness (Sanbonmatsu et al., 2015). Drivers that use cell phones make more serious and minor errors, but cannot recall making these errors due to a lack of awareness. These drivers are more unaware of their inconsistent speed, placement in lanes and near accidents than those that are not using a cell phone. Additionally, these drivers are less likely to self-regulate their driving efficiently like drivers not using cell phones because of this lack of awareness. This reduction in self-regulation moreover leads to an increase in both minor and major errors (Sanbonmatsu et al. 2015). To determine this, Sanbonmatsu et al. (2015) gathered participants and split them into either a control/no cell phone group and an experimental/cell phone group. These participants were then tested in a driving simulator with the control group simply running through the simulator while the cell phone group called a friend or family member and had a conversation on a hands free device. The results of this experiment indicated that even though the control group did still make errors, they had more awareness of those errors than the experimental group, and made less serious errors than the experimental group.