A Campus Campaign to Reduce Cell Phone Use While Driving

The purpose of this study was to determine if a campus-wide educational campaign could reduce cell phone use while driving among members of the campus community. At a mid-sized public institution, 562 students, faculty, and staff completed surveys that addressed their self reported cell phone use while driving, as well as their attitudes and beliefs regarding the behavior. Although 67.5% agreed or strongly agreed that talking while driving is dangerous and 90.4% agreed or strongly agreed that texting while driving is dangerous, 63.4% reported talking and 50.4% reported texting frequently or very frequently while driving. Parking lot observations revealed 8.4% of the individuals talking and 11.0% texting while exiting the parking lots. A month long media campaign that included posters, flyers, Face Book messages, newspaper articles, and other activities was conducted. Post intervention survey data indicated that 57.1% of the participants reported that they talk and 43.8% reported that they text frequently or very frequently while driving. Post intervention parking lot observations found 9.2% of the individuals talking on cell phones and 6.6% individuals texting. Exposure to intervention materials was significantly related to individuals' post-intervention beliefs and reported behaviors. The more materials the individuals saw, the less likely they were to report that they text or talk frequently while driving. And the more materials the individuals saw, the less likely they were to believe that they could text or talk safely while driving.