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It's well-known that using a cell phone while driving can distract drivers, increasing the risk of a crash. However, new research found that even anticipating calls or messages may lead to motor vehicle crashes.

Jennifer M. Whitehill, PhD, postdoctoral fellow at Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center at the University of Washington, and her colleagues sought to find out whether compulsive cell phone use is associated with motor vehicle crashes. 

They had 384 undergraduate students fill out the Cell Phone Overuse Scale (CPOS), a 24-item instrument that assesses four aspects of problematic cell phone use: frequent anticipation of calls/messages, interference with normal activities, a strong emotional reaction to the cell phone, and recognizing problem use.

Parcitipants also completed an online anonymous survey that included questions about driving history, prior crashes while operating a vehicle, and items assessing risk behaviors and psychological profile.

Results showed that for each 1 point increase on the CPOS, there was an approximately 1 percent increase in the number of previous motor vehicle crashes. Of the four dimensions of compulsive cell phone use, a higher level of call anticipation was significantly associated with prior crashes.

"We know it is important to prevent young drivers from taking their hands off the wheel and eyes off the road to use a cell phone," Whitehill said. "This study suggests that thinking about future cell phone calls and messages may be an additional source of distraction that could contribute to crashes."

The study was presented Sunday at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Boston.