William Atkins
Tuesday, 02 December 2008 19:02
Science -
Health
Page 1 of 3
A U.S. study has piled on more damaging evidence that cell phones used while driving is worse than driving drunk, slows reaction times of teenagers down to seniors, and causes drivers to tailgate. And the chatter goes on....
On Monday, December 1, 2008, U.S. psychologist
David Lee Strayer and colleagues from the University of Utah reported in the
Journal of Experimental Psychology that using hands-free cell phones while driving is significantly dangerous.
Strayer’s team examined how conversing with passengers in a motorized vehicle (automobile) differs from conversing on a cell phone while driving.
They compared the differences within drivers in how they were able to deal with driving in traffic while conversing on a cell phone, conversing with a passenger, and while driving without any distraction.
The researchers used a series of experiments with a group of 96 adults, who were 18 to 49 years old. The subjects were told to talk with a friend about past experiences in which their life was threatened.
Their journal paper (pdf file) is entitled “
Passenger and Cell Phone Conversations in Simulated Driving.” It is authored by Dr. Strayer, along with Frank A. Drews and Monisha Pasupathi, all from the University of Utah.
They found that hands-free cell phones are just as distracting as handheld ones.
See what else they discovered on page two.
