06-30-2006, 12:06 PM
People who talk on mobile phones while driving, even using 'hands-free' devices, are as impaired as drunk drivers, researchers have said.
Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Utah who worked on the study, said: "If legislators really want to address driver distraction, then they should consider outlawing cell phone use while driving."
The researchers used a driving simulation device for their study, published in the summer 2006 issue of Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
They studied 40 volunteers who used a driving simulator four times - while undistracted, using a handheld mobile phone, using a hands-free mobile phone and while intoxicated to a 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level (the average legal level of impairment in the US) after drinking vodka and orange juice.
Three study participants rear-ended the simulated car in front of them. All were talking on mobile phones and none was drunk, the researchers said.
Motorists who talked on either handheld or hands-free mobile phones drove slightly more slowly, were 9 per cent slower to hit the brakes and varied their speed more than undistracted drivers.
Drivers with a 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level drove a bit more slowly than both undistracted drivers and phone users, yet more aggressively.
"Driving while talking on a cell phone is as bad as or maybe worse than driving drunk," said Drews.
Just like many people who have been drinking, the mobile phone users did not believe themselves to be affected, the researchers found.
http://networks.silicon.com/mobile/0,390...003,00.htm
Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Utah who worked on the study, said: "If legislators really want to address driver distraction, then they should consider outlawing cell phone use while driving."
The researchers used a driving simulation device for their study, published in the summer 2006 issue of Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
They studied 40 volunteers who used a driving simulator four times - while undistracted, using a handheld mobile phone, using a hands-free mobile phone and while intoxicated to a 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level (the average legal level of impairment in the US) after drinking vodka and orange juice.
Three study participants rear-ended the simulated car in front of them. All were talking on mobile phones and none was drunk, the researchers said.
Motorists who talked on either handheld or hands-free mobile phones drove slightly more slowly, were 9 per cent slower to hit the brakes and varied their speed more than undistracted drivers.
Drivers with a 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level drove a bit more slowly than both undistracted drivers and phone users, yet more aggressively.
"Driving while talking on a cell phone is as bad as or maybe worse than driving drunk," said Drews.
Just like many people who have been drinking, the mobile phone users did not believe themselves to be affected, the researchers found.
http://networks.silicon.com/mobile/0,390...003,00.htm
