We have all come across this type of headline: "Fatal car crash — cops say driver was using mobile phone"
Mobile phones have become indispensable, yet their impact on road safety remains insufficiently examined, particularly the distractions associated with maladaptive mobile phone use.
Defined broadly, maladaptive practice occurs when excessive use adversely impacts work and social relationships.
It refers to several phenomena including problematic phone use; smartphone addiction; fear of missing out or FOMO — the persistent need to stay connected and avoid missing social interactions; and nomophobia — the fear of being without mobile phones or out of mobile contact.
When these behaviours extend to road use, such behaviours frequently result in reduced self-control and increased risk-taking behaviour, which cause significant risks for all road users.
Understanding maladaptive phone use is critical to figuring out why some individuals use mobile phones while sharing roads.
The relationship between maladaptive use and risky road behaviour is complex. At its core, it is often driven by a need for constant connection and instant access to information, often triggered by social media-induced FOMO.
This constant need to engage with mobile phones has normalised behaviours like texting or checking for updates while sharing the road. People with high nomophobia scores are more likely to engage with mobile phones while driving.
Beyond distraction, maladaptive use reflects deeper psychological ties to mobile phones, driven by various motives such as mood regulation, social connection, self-expression, and self-identity.
Consequently, some road users continue to use their devices even in situations where they pose a serious safety risk. This suggests an urgent need to address maladaptive phone use and road safety holistically.
A systematic review of 44 studies highlighted a strong link between maladaptive practice and risky phone use behaviours (i.e., cognitive aspects, risk perception, phone use engagement, and safety-related road user performance) among not only drivers but also vulnerable road users.
Individuals with higher maladaptive phone use scores (that is, higher levels of behavioural and cognitive association with mobile phones) were more likely to have favourable attitudes toward phone use while sharing the road and demonstrated a reduced perception of associated risks, often underestimating the likelihood of crashes and injuries.
Higher scores also correlated with an increased intention to use mobile phones in high-risk settings, leading to more frequent phone use on the road.
Although a few studies provided limited evidence that maladaptive use decreases the performance of road users (for example, speeding, aberrant driving behaviour), the majority identified that it is a risk to road safety as there is a potential link between maladaptive use and safety-critical traffic events, such as falling, slipping, bumps/collisions, road traffic injuries and fatalities.
Furthermore, people with high scores of maladaptive mobile phone use are more likely to be involved in safety-critical events, such as near misses and collisions.
For example, this study showed that maladaptive mobile phone use increases the likelihood of pedestrian collisions by 3.56 times and falling while walking by 3.91.
For drivers, it increases the likelihood of phone-related accidents up to 2.6 times.
This evidence suggests that people with high maladaptive mobile phone use scores are more susceptible to distractions and face elevated risks of encountering hazardous situations.
The interdisciplinary nature of this issue demands a multi-pronged solution, where insights from road safety, public health and technology sectors come together to form effective, evidence-based interventions.
Effective laws and enforcement are essential to reducing maladaptive phone use as a risk factor on the road. While legislation typically bans the use of handheld phones while driving, other types of phone use by road users are often overlooked.
To address this gap, road safety experts need to collaborate with other sectors to shift social norms and attitudes regarding mobile phone use on the road, making it as unacceptable as driving under the influence.
Community-based campaigns can further support these efforts by emphasising the risks of maladaptive phone use and fostering a safety culture among all road users.
Excessive mobile phone use is particularly concerning because it is widespread, with a high potential for crashes and injuries. Public health practitioners can play a key role in promoting preventive strategies by advocating for mindfulness and digital well-being practices.
By framing maladaptive phone use as an underlying mental health risk similar to other public health hazards, experts can highlight its serious implications. By targeting young users who often exhibit the highest maladaptive phone use rates, public health practitioners can increase awareness for more mindful mobile phone behaviours.
Given their central role in device development, tech companies also have a unique opportunity to design mobile phones and apps with safety features that limit mobile phone use in high-risk situations.
The impact of excessive phone use while driving presents an opportunity for maladaptive-specific interventions that could enhance road safety by reducing distractions through mobile phone use.
Collaborations between road safety experts, public health advocates and tech developers could lead to innovative, less intrusive ways to limit mobile phone use on the road, such as auto-locking phone screens for drivers or other mechanisms that minimise distractions.
A more integrated approach that addresses maladaptive phone use in road safety involves continuous collaboration among stakeholders.
Road safety researchers, public health professionals and technology companies must adopt a shared responsibility model, promoting consistent engagement in each sector's roles and encouraging knowledge sharing on what interventions work best.
The aim should be not only to minimise distractions on roads but to foster a culture of responsibility and safety-conscious mobile phone use among all road users.
Fety Ilma Rahmillah is a doctoral researcher at the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety-Queensland (CARRS-Q), Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia. Her research focuses on the impact of mobile phone use on distraction and its broader implications for road safety and human behaviours.
