Cell phone use while driving in North Carolina
archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified
Get this paper ↗ (full text — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)
Summary
This 2001 report by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center investigates the prevalence, characteristics, and crash involvement of cell phone use while driving in North Carolina. Motivated by the rapid growth of mobile phone ownership and emerging safety concerns, the study aims to characterize who uses phones while driving, determine usage rates, and assess the extent of cell phone involvement in motor vehicle crashes. The research addresses a critical gap in existing data, noting that current crash reporting systems are inadequate for accurately estimating the risk associated with this distraction. The study employed a multi-method approach. First, it reviewed existing literature on epidemiological studies, driver performance, and legislative actions. Second, it conducted a statewide observational study at 85 sites across North Carolina, observing 14,059 vehicles to identify 1,070 drivers using hand-held cell phones. Observers collected data on driver demographics, vehicle type, and restraint use. Third, the researchers analyzed crash data through two methods: a pilot study with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, where troopers completed special forms for crashes involving cell phones, and a computerized search of police crash narratives from 1996 to 2000. The observational study found a statewide cell phone prevalence rate of 3.1%, consistent with national estimates. Usage varied by region, with higher rates in the Piedmont (4.1%) compared to the Mountains (2.2%) and Coastal (1.5%) regions, and increased throughout the day from 2.7% in the morning to 3.5% in the late afternoon. Drivers using cell phones were more likely to be younger, white, driving sport utility vehicles, using seat belts, and driving without a front-seat passenger. Regarding crash involvement, the pilot study with the Highway Patrol identified cell phone use in only 0.16% of crashes (11 out of 6,686), and police narratives mentioned cell phones in only half of those cases. However, the narrative search revealed exponential growth in mentions of cell phone use in crashes from 1996 to 2000, with "talking on the phone" being the most common cited action (46%). The study concludes that while cell phone use is prevalent and associated with specific driver demographics, current crash data is insufficient to determine the precise magnitude of crash risk. The authors emphasize that existing data is conservative due to underreporting and lack of standardized reporting fields. They highlight the urgent need for better crash information to accurately estimate risk, particularly as in-vehicle information systems become more common. The findings underscore the limitations of current legislative and enforcement efforts in addressing distracted driving without robust data on the actual safety impacts.
Key finding
Cell phone usage was associated with front seat occupancy, vehicle type, and driver age, ethnicity, and restraint usage, with users being more likely to be driving without a front seat passenger, driving a sport utility vehicle, younger, white, and using seat belts.
Methodology
naturalistic
Sample size: 14059
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 19 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | partial | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified_with_issues.
Topics
Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.
Information type
What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).
- Applied Guidance: policy recommendations
- Empirical Findings: observational prevalence, crash risk outcomes