IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 54

ultiple countries
across the globe
and thirty-nine
states in the U.S.
have banned the
act of sending "text messages" (or
"short message service," SMS) on
handheld cell phones while behind
the wheel of a car.1 The scientific
research shows texting to result in
substantial driver distraction.2 And
a rough consensus between science,
policy, and public opinion appears
to be emerging that the distraction
caused by the acts of physically
typing into a phone and looking at
a screen constitutes a significant
threat to traffic safety.
But as cellular phone technologies develop, as policies are
formed, and as user practices
become established, new issues of
concern are emerging. One concern regards what could be called
"no-look" texting while driving.
This involves a driver sending text
messages without taking her or his
eyes off the road, that is, texting
without looking at the cell phone
screen. Due to new technological
advances and new traffic laws, nolook texting while driving could
become a pervasive practice, and
I suggest that both public policy
and scientific research are struggling to keep up with the resulting
dangers to traffic safety.
There are at least two ways in
which these phenomena may be
occurring. One is what could be
called "handheld" no-look texting while driving. The second
is "hands-free" no-look texting
while driving. Handheld no-look
texting while driving involves a
driver developing the skill to type
messages into the phone without
diverting her or his eyes from the
road ahead. In such a case, a driver
may require only minimal visual
1

See www.cellular-news.com/car_bans/. For statewide bans in the United States: www.distraction.
gov/state-laws.
2
For empirical research on the dangers of texting
while driving, see [6], [9], [18].
54

contact with the phone to engage
in texting. Hands-free no-look texting while driving involves the use
of technology that can translate
text into audio, and voice into text.
With such voice-translation technologies, a driver can receive and
send text messages without manually or visually interfacing with the
device. My contention is that both
of these forms of no-look texting
while driving may bring about a
significant level of driver distraction, and thus constitute a serious
emerging threat to traffic safety.
One circumstance in which
handheld no-look texting may be
operative is addressed in a recent
study by the Highway Loss Data
Institute on the effectiveness of

created a cause and effect that simply doesn't exist" [13].3
The authors of the HLDI study
theorize that the reason for the
increase in traffic accidents after
these bans is due to a specific form
of noncompliance: drivers may
hold the cell phone down below
the dashboard to avoid detection
by law enforcement. The authors
explain, "If this [practice of positioning the phone below the dashboard] causes them [drivers] to
take their eyes off the road more
than before the ban, then the bans
may make texting more dangerous rather than eliminating it" [8].
This seems at least plausible. But
it also seems incomplete. I suggest that it may additionally be the

Hands-free no-look texting while
driving involves the use of technology
that can translate text into audio, and
voice into text.
texting bans, which I refer to here as
the HLDI study [8], [12]. researchers compared the rate of motor vehicle crash-related insurance claims in
four states in the U.S. in the months
just before and soon after the enactment of statewide texting bans. The
surprising results indicate that the
bans were not associated with a
decrease in claim rates, and were
in some cases actually associated
with a slight increase. Claim rates
during the same period were also
monitored in other states in which
there was no change in the legality
of texting while driving to be certain that external factors, such as
a nationwide increase or decrease
in traffic generally, were not at
play. These counterintuitive findings have understandably generated controversy. For example, U.S.
Secretary of Transportation ray
LaHood blogs, "There are numerous flaws with this 'study,' but
the most obvious is that they have

case that drivers are engaging in
no-look texting while driving. That
is, drivers may indeed be holding
cell phones down below the dashboard, but may continue to do their
best to pay attention to the road as
they simultaneously write text messages without looking at the screen.
I consider the implications of the
HLDI study in the concluding section of this article.
An example of hands-free nolook texting while driving is the
use of Apple's "Siri" voice interface system for writing and reading text messages while behind the
wheel. Siri enables iphone smartphone users to operate a multitude
of mobile computing applications
3
Studies on the effectiveness of bans on texting,
and bans on handheld phone usage generally,
have found mixed results [3], [17]. This is to be
expected in light of the issues under consideration in this essay, i.e., that it is not only handheld phone conversation and texting that result in
driving impairment.

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

SprING 2013

http://www.cellular-news.com/car_bans/ http://www.distraction

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