Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Accident Analysis and Prevention journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/aap Self-reported handheld device use while driving Karl Kim a,b , Jiwnath Ghimire a,b , Pradip Pant a,b , Eric Yamashita a,b, ⁎ a Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Hawaii, United States b National Disaster Preparedness Training Center, University of Hawaii, United States ARTICLEINFO Keywords: Handheld device use Distracted driving Accident analysis Prevention ABSTRACT In spite of research and awareness of the hazards associated with handheld mobile device use while driving, many motorists continue to engage in this risky behavior. The mobile device use while driving has a detrimental efect on the operation of the vehicle. It contributes signifcantly to distraction which is a leading cause of accidents. Especially, the use of text messaging and the dialing of a 10-digit number while driving can be attributable to crash risks. Phone use bans have a positive role in reducing mobile phone use for texting while operating vehicles. There are limited studies on whether drivers admit to the use of handheld devices while driving. The aim of this study was to identify the experiences, practices, and attitudes of handheld device use while driving. A total of 337 respondents nationwide replied to the survey on the attitudes and self-reported behaviors of handheld device use while driving. In the survey, the characteristics of handheld device users, use of handheld devices, and the diferences in self-reported behaviors across states with and without device use re- strictions were compared. The perceptions and experiences of device users are also examined. Based on the background of device users and their attitudes, a multivariate logistic regression is used to identify the char- acteristics of those who use handheld devices while driving. The model is relevant to this research because it allows the consideration and comparison of many variables to identify the attitudes of people towards distracted driving. The afrmative self-reporting of 59 percent of the respondents is a surprising result given that there are state bans on texting and the use of handheld mobile phones while driving. Older drivers are least likely to engage in these behaviors, compared to younger drivers and adult drivers. Based on the fndings, targeted educational and enforcement campaigns to reduce device use during driving are suggested. Additional promising areas for further inquiry and research are also proposed. 1. Introduction There has been much research pointing to the impacts of mobile phone use and distraction on driving performance (Oviedo-Trespalacios et al., 2016) using a diverse array of methods including crash analysis (Svenson and Patten, 2005; McCartt et al., 2006), with instrumented vehicles (Caird et al., 2014a, b) naturalistic observations (Caird et al., 2014a; Ferdinand and Menachemi, 2014), and driving simulators (Törnros and Bolling, 2005; Ranney, 2008; Collet et al., 2010; Caird et al., 2014a). Based on a review of the published literature, there is evidence of the detrimental efects of mobile phone use while driving (Lipovac et al., 2017) with text messaging associated with the highest levels of distraction, followed by ten-digit dialing (Ranney et al., 2011). Research has shown that crash risk can be attributable to drivers talking on cell phones while driving (McEvoy et al., 2005; Márquez et al., 2015; Sun and Jia, 2016). There are defciencies on reporting on the use of mobile phones that result in road trafc accidents around the world even though there are legislative bans on mobile phone use while driving in those nations (Ige et al., 2016). While handheld cell phone use has declined over the past decade (2006–2015), visible manipulation of handheld devices has continued to increase according to the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS), which shows device use is highest among young drivers, aged 16–24, and among female drivers over male drivers (Pickrell et al., 2016). Research in 2012 found that 11% of drivers reported always answering their phones while driving, and 17% report almost always answering while driving with more than half (58%) continuing to drive while completing their conversations (Tison et al., 2011; Schroeder et al., 2013). Between 2005 and 2008, there was a 28% rise in the fatalities from distracted driving and one of the major reason was the rise in texting (Wilson and Stimpson, 2010). In a recent three month analysis of 3 million drivers taking 570 million trips, amounting to 5.6 billion miles, Zendrive Research found that drivers use their phones 88 out of 100 trips (Zendrive Research, 2017). As to factors which lower https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2019.01.032 Received 12 January 2018; Received in revised form 14 December 2018; Accepted 27 January 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: karlk@hawaii.edu (K. Kim), jiwnath@hawaii.edu (J. Ghimire), pradip@hawaii.edu (P. Pant), ericyama@hawaii.edu (E. Yamashita). Accident Analysis and Prevention 125 (2019) 106–115 0001-4575/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T