Using Phone While Driving Makes You Old and Drunk
According to a recent report on Reuters, talking to someone on your cell phone while you’re driving is more of a distraction than having even the most talkative of passengers in the back seat. In other news, water is wet.
In light of the semi-recently passed traffic laws in California about driving and talking on the phone, it’s natural that people come up with all kinds of scenarios about how talking on the phone is a lot better than doing whatever else in your car. One of the more common ones was that you were way less likely to crash your car while on your cell phone than if you had three screaming kids in the back. A similar argument pointed out that talking on the phone to a friend is just like talking to a passenger in your car.
Aside from the fact that common sense will tell you a passenger can see whether or not you’re about to run yourself off the road or into the path of an oncoming truck, a recent study from U.S. researchers has proved that having a second pair of eyes in the car actually does help because the person knows when to keep quiet and let you actually drive the car.
That aside, the study did come up with some interesting facts. According to research, talking on your cell phone while driving can slow the reaction times of younger drivers to the levels seen among senior citizens. Not only that but drivers using mobile phones are reportedly as impaired as drunk drivers.
The team used a simulator to test 96 adults aged 18 to 49 and results showed that drivers using a hands-free device drifted out of their lanes and missed exits more frequently than drivers talking to a passenger.
Read the full story on Reuters.
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Hahaha sadly enough that made my day
What I note from personal experience is that talking on the cell phone gives you a kind of tunnel vision. While not scientific, I feel that I spend more "brain power" trying concentrate and understand what the person on the cell phone is saying due to lower voice quality.
This is clearly not the case with having a conversation with someone sitting in the car. I don't feel any distracting trying to understand what someone riding with me is saying.
So if talking on a mobile phone while driving decreases reaction time to that of a senior citizen, and drivers using mobile phones are as impaired as drunks... that must mean senior citizens drive drunk (which seems plausible). Guess we should take away their keys when we give them senior benefits, for the sake of public safety of course.
I know exactly what you mean rsud. The noise of the road and the crappy sound quality of 95% of cellphones manufactured today puts you in a state where you must concentrate very hard to understand the person on the other end.
I actually noticed that the right away the first few times I had a conversation on my cell while driving, so I got into the habbit of just answering to let the person know I could not talk to them at that time.
Maybe if they came up with a high quality phone system for your car that was superior than your average quality handset + bluetooth combination, the distraction factor could be reduced to something manageable.
Water is wet? Blasphemy!
..blaspheyou, blaspheverybody in the room...
i was about to say the same thing, i felt i need more concentration doing those things at the same time though its easier to talk on a long and open road.
My conclusion is that we shouldn't outlaw driving with cellphones, we should legalize drunk driving.