title: The effects of perception of risk and importance of answering and initiating a cellular phone call while driving.
abstract: Recent data suggest that laws banning cellular phone use while driving may not change use patterns, especially among young drivers with high rates of mobile phone adoption. We examined reasons younger drivers choose or do not choose to talk on a phone while driving among a sample of young drivers (n=276) with very high ownership of cellular phones (over 99%) and a very high use of cellular phones while driving (100% for those that were primary operators of an automobile). Respondents were surveyed for patterns of use, types of call, perceived risk, and motivations for use. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the relationships between perceived risk of the behavior, emotionality of the call, perceived importance of the call, and how often calls were initiated versus answered. The model suggests that even though people believe that talking on a cellular phone while driving is dangerous, they will tend to initiate a cellular conversation if they believe that the call is important.
authors.affiliation: The University of Kansas, KS 66045, United States.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Atchley
authors.forename: Todd D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Little
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D040421:Cell Phone / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D012309:Risk-Taking; D013334:Students; D055815:Young Adult