Combining Mobile Phone Conversations and Driving – Studying a Mundane Activity in Its Naturalistic Setting

We report an ethnographic fieldwork on the highly valued mobile phone use in conjunction with car driving. The study is motivated by recent discussions on possible regulations in this area. Our fieldwork reveals different ways, e.g. adaptation of button pressing on mobile devices to traffic situations and provision of remote awareness through conversational cues, in which drivers combine driving and phone talk to each other in natural settings and real conversations. This is of critical value when discussing safety of mobile phones and cars.