Background Because of a belief that the use of cellular telephoneswhile driving may cause collisions, several countries have restrictedtheir use in motor vehicles, and others are considering suchregulations. We used an epidemiologic method, the case–crossoverdesign, to study whether using a cellular telephone while drivingincreases the risk of a motor vehicle collision.
Methods We studied 699 drivers who had cellular telephones andwho were involved in motor vehicle collisions resulting in substantialproperty damage but no personal injury. Each person's cellular-telephonecalls on the day of the collision and during the previous weekwere analyzed through the use of detailed billing records.
Results A total of 26,798 cellular-telephone calls were madeduring the 14-month study period. The risk of a collision whenusing a cellular telephone was four times higher than the riskwhen a cellular telephone was not being used (relative risk,4.3; 95 percent confidence interval, 3.0 to 6.5). The relativerisk was similar for drivers who differed in personal characteristicssuch as age and driving experience; calls close to the timeof the collision were particularly hazardous (relative risk,4.8 for calls placed within 5 minutes of the collision, as comparedwith 1.3 for calls placed more than 15 minutes before the collision;P<0.001); and units that allowed the hands to be free (relativerisk, 5.9) offered no safety advantage over hand-held units(relative risk, 3.9; P not significant). Thirty-nine percentof the drivers called emergency services after the collision,suggesting that having a cellular telephone may have had advantagesin the aftermath of an event.
Conclusions The use of cellular telephones in motor vehiclesis associated with a quadrupling of the risk of a collisionduring the brief period of a call. Decisions about regulationof such telephones, however, need to take into account the benefitsof the technology and the role of individual responsibility.
Source Information
From the Departments of Medicine (D.A.R.), Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics (R.J.T.), and Statistics (R.J.T.) and the Program in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research (D.A.R.), University of Toronto, Toronto; and the Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, North York, Ont., Canada (D.A.R.).
Address reprint requests to Dr. Redelmeier at Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, G-151, 2075 Bayview Ave., North York, ON M4N 3M5, Canada.
Cellular Telephones and Traffic Accidents
Cohen P. J., Quinlan K. P., Paltiel O., Ambrose A., Redelmeier D. A., Tibshirani R. J., Maclure M., Mittleman M. A.
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N Engl J Med 1997;
337:127-129, Jul 10, 1997.
Correspondence
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