No law prohibits you from using your mobile phone while riding your bicycle, unlike operating a vehicle while on call, which is punishable by several laws. In the United States,48 states have banned text messaging while driving.
Of course, using your phone while riding your bike is not recommended for safety reasons although it should be mentioned that some products, like the Livall Helmet, have smart capabilities that allow you to answer your phone hands-free.
Texting or bringing your phone to your ear while maneuvering with one hand is classified as distracted driving.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 3,000 individuals were killed due to distracted driving in 2017.
Distracted driving covers a whole gamut of activities such as eating, talking to passengers, drinking, playing with your entertainment system, fiddling with the navigation system, and the like.
However, the NHTSA takes particular note on texting, which takes your eyes away from the road for at least 5 seconds. The agency said it’s similar to driving an entire length of a football field with your eyes closed.
Mobile phone use for cyclists
There aren’t many studies on the prevalence rate of cyclists using their mobile phones. A 2010 research in the city of Groningen in The Netherlands showed that 2.2% of cyclists were talking to their phones while riding their bicycles. Meanwhile, a measly 0.6% were texting on their phones.
But then again, this is The Netherlands, where bicycles outnumber people. They are more conscious about adopting safety practices while on the road.
The problem is being on the bike gives you a false sense of safety. You might think that you are traveling very slow and so are not susceptible to injury even if you use your phone. However, you still have to account for bicycle and vehicle crashes, which claimed 783 lives in 2017.
Wearing your helmet
Wearing your helmet will significantly reduce the odds of sustaining a traumatic brain injury by as much as 50%, and the odds of death by 44%. It also reduces the risk of the individual sustaining facial fractures. This data is from the American Journal of Surgery.
Surgeons, therefore, advocated the importance of wearing a helmet to cut the odds of sustaining severe head injuries.
Meanwhile, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said that a majority of the more than 8,000 emergency room visits by cyclists were brain injuries.
A Livall Helmet will address both protect your head from injury and also avoid distracted driving. This smart helmet is equipped with the latest technology that allows you to pair it with your smartphone using the app from the App Store and Google Play. You can take advantage of the wireless call capability to never take your eyes off the road.
Meanwhile, the helmet itself adheres to the very strict standards for product safety as outlined by the EU CEN standards. So you know that the gear can protect your head in case of a crash.
