{"607310":{"#nid":"607310","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Do Not Get Distracted by Georgia\u2019s New Cell Phone Law, Georgia Tech Professor Urges","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBy Michael Pearson\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile undoubtedly a step forward, Georgia\u0026rsquo;s new handheld driving law could end up actually encouraging drivers to engage in dangerously distracting behavior behind the wheel, according to a Georgia Institute of Technology professor who has studied the issue for more than a decade.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Drivers might say, \u0026lsquo;Oh, good. They looked into what things are dangerous and they\u0026#39;ve banned everything that\u0026rsquo;s unsafe. And that means for anything else we might want to do with our phone while driving, we\u0026#39;re good to go.\u0026#39; But that\u0026#39;s just not true scientifically speaking,\u0026rdquo; said Robert Rosenberger, a professor in the Georgia Tech \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/spp.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Public Policy\u003C\/a\u003E, a unit of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/rosenberger\u0022\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThose distracting behaviors that remain legal include hands-free calling and messaging, as well as interacting with the colorful in-dash infotainment systems increasingly common in new cars.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.headsupgeorgia.com\/handsfree-law\/\u0022\u003EThe law\u003C\/a\u003E, which goes into effect July 1, replaces the state\u0026rsquo;s ban on texting while driving with a complete prohibition on holding or cradling a cell phone or other electronic device while on the road. It also limits other behaviors, such as sending or reading text-based communications, video chatting while driving or wearing headphones to listen to music.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWith the new legislation, Georgia becomes the 17\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E state to \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/research\/transportation\/cellular-phone-use-and-texting-while-driving-laws.aspx\u0022\u003Eban handheld phone use\u003C\/a\u003E, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile Rosenberger said such laws undoubtedly save lives, they also ignore the large and growing body of evidence that hands-free phone use is just as dangerous as fiddling with your phone.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhy is that?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/rosenberger\u0022\u003ERosenberger\u003C\/a\u003E, a philosopher who studies our engagement with technology, says there is something about the experience of talking on the phone \u0026mdash; any phone \u0026mdash; that makes us pay less attention to what\u0026rsquo;s happening around us.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;When you\u0026#39;re in a room by yourself, and you\u0026#39;re using the phone, your mind is on the conversation, right? You might have a whole bunch of things on your wall in front of you, a bookcase, or pictures or knickknacks; you\u0026#39;re not looking at those, right? Even though your eyes are open, and you\u0026#39;re looking forward, your mind is on the conversation. And we do that every time we\u0026#39;re on the phone.\u0026rdquo; he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The reason we\u0026#39;re so bad at driving while using the phone is that those habits kick in,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;When the driving gets boring, and the phone conversation gets interesting, our mind can drift into this place where we\u0026#39;re thinking about the phone call rather than processing the visual information in front of us.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EConversations with passengers tend to be less distracting because they ebb and flow with what\u0026rsquo;s going on around the car, helping the driver disengage from the passenger and focus on the road when conditions warrant, Rosenberger said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESo what\u0026rsquo;s a tech-addled driver surrounded by flashing, beeping, whirring gadgets to do?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;ve got to get out of the mindset that our time behind the wheel is a good chance to get some calls made for work, check our messages, or catch up with friends. We need to treat driving like we\u0026rsquo;ve got other people\u0026rsquo;s lives in our hands, because we do.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhile undoubtedly a step forward, Georgia\u0026rsquo;s new handheld driving law could end up actually encouraging drivers to engage in dangerously distracting behavior behind the wheel, according to a Georgia Institute of Technology professor who has studied the issue for more than a decade.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Robert Rosenberger, a professor in the School of Public Policy, said the law could induce some drivers to believe hands-free technology is safer than research shows it to be."}],"uid":"34600","created_gmt":"2018-06-26 14:44:45","changed_gmt":"2018-06-27 22:00:20","author":"mpearson34","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-06-26T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2018-06-26T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"405881":{"id":"405881","type":"image","title":"Robert Rosenberger","body":null,"created":"1449254153","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:35:53","changed":"1539181769","gmt_changed":"2018-10-10 14:29:29","alt":"Photo portrait of School of Public Policy professor Robert Rosenberger","file":{"fid":"76113","name":"robertrosenbergerweb.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/robertrosenbergerweb.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/robertrosenbergerweb.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":40625,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/robertrosenbergerweb.jpg?itok=TiXirV-U"}}},"media_ids":["405881"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/urbaninnovation.gatech.edu\/Research\/SmartandSustainableCities\/Projects\/Arguments-against-cell-phone-driver-distraction","title":"Arguments Against Cell Phone Driver Distraction"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/technology\/future_tense\/2017\/12\/yes_smartphone_use_is_probably_behind_the_spike_in_vehicle_related_deaths.html","title":"Yes, Smartphone Use Is Probably Behind the Spike in Driving Deaths. So Why Isn\u2019t More Being Done to Curb It?"}],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1289","name":"School of Public Policy"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"151","name":"Policy, Social Sciences, and Liberal Arts"}],"keywords":[{"id":"9197","name":"distracted driving"},{"id":"862","name":"Cell Phones"},{"id":"167078","name":"School of Public Policy"},{"id":"36251","name":"robert rosenberger"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39511","name":"Public Service, Leadership, and Policy"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71901","name":"Society and Culture"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERebecca Keane\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nrebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n404.894.1720\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["rebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}