Wow. drunk drivers are so vilified, now they saw talking on cell phones my be worse. Cellphone talkers as bad as drunk drivers: study By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent Thu Jun 29, 9:25 PM ET http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/cellphones_dc People who talk on cellphones while driving, even using "hands-free" devices, are as impaired as drunk drivers, researchers said on Thursday. "If legislators really want to address driver distraction, then they should consider outlawing cell phone use while driving," said Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Utah who worked on the study. 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 cell phone, using a hands-free cell phone and while intoxicated to a 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level -- the average legal level of impairment in the United States -- after drinking vodka and orange juice. Three study participants rear-ended the simulated car in front of them. All were talking on cellphones and none was drunk, the researchers said. Motorists who talked on either handheld or hands-free cell phones drove slightly more slowly, were 9 percent slower to hit the brakes, and varied their speed more than undistracted drivers. Drivers with an 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level drove a bit more slowly than both undistracted drivers and telephone users, yet more aggressively. "Driving while talking on a cell phone is as bad as or maybe worse than driving drunk," said Drews, who said alcohol was involved in 40 percent of the 42,000 annual U.S. traffic fatalities. Just like many people who have been drinking, the cellphone users did not believe themselves to be affected, the researchers found.
I think it's okay as long as the pipe doesn't have a carb...that gets a little tricky. Oh, and no hydro.
i don't need a study to tell me this. i experience it everyday on my drive to/from work. i'll be honest and say i too am guilty of using my cell phone while driving. i will acknowledge that it is a big distraction so i try to limit the usage to as little as possible.
Nothing, it's just a good show that I felt like bringing up... Here you go.. it's towards the bottom.. http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2005/06/mythbusters_killer_brace_posit.html
The drove on a test course sober, while talking on a cell phone, then after drinking (at the legal limit), and proved that it's more dangerous driving while on a cell phone then after drinking.
My wife and I play a game driving down the highway trying to pick out cell phone users before we pass them. It's usually easy --- except sometimes when we pass someone driving like a cell phone user they are really stuffing their faces with fast food.
Overall The cellphone tests were failed by a much bigger margin, though Adam's observation was that you can put down a cellphone -- you can't get instantly undrunk. Also, they tested the drunk driving below the California legal limit -- Adam, at least, has gotten much drunker for MythBuster tests than that.
When I see someone talking on a cellphone while driving, I try to steer clear of them because I know they're usually about to do something stupid. I know they're not paying attention and you can just predict that they're about to pull out in front of you or make a sudden stop, or swerve across 4 lanes of traffic etc. I would even argue that cellphone drivers are worse than drunk drivers because there are more of them and they are on the road 24/7 instead of just at night and/or on the weekends like the drunks.
women are bad drivers as it is...now we have cell phones to make it even worse...i honestly can't count the number of times I’ve had near accidents with women on cell phones...it could be coincidental, but I don't think so. Sorry for these sexist comments.
what about eating or reading directions or talking to people in the passenger seats? doing anything besides driving makes driving more dangerous.
The percentage of cellphone talkers is probably double the percentage of eaters and direction readers combined. And when you're talking to a passenger, you can still steer with both hands, look behind you to change lanes, check mirrors etc. These are things that are hard to do with a cellphone attached to your ear.
True, talking to a passenger should be equivalent to talking to someone on the phone with a headset...except for one fact many people overlook. When something dangerous is about to happen on the road, the passenger usually notices and stops talking/yells/screams/etc. When you're talking to someone on the cell phone with a headset, you don't have the luxury of a second pair of eyes.
