[3GScottishUser]

Psychologists at the University of Utah have published a study claiming that motorists who talk on handheld or hands-free mobile phones are as dangerous as drunken drivers.

"We found that people are as impaired when they drive and talk on a cellphone as they are when they drive intoxicated at the legal blood-alcohol limit of 0.08 per cent, which is the minimum level that defines illegal drunken driving in most US states," said study co-author Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology.

"If legislators really want to address driver distraction, they should consider outlawing cellphone use while driving."

Psychology Professor David Strayer, the study's lead author, added: "Just like you put yourself and other people at risk when you drive drunk, you put yourself and others at risk when you use a cellphone and drive. The level of impairment is very similar."

The study reinforced earlier research by Strayer and Drews showing that hands-free mobile phones are just as distracting because the conversation itself, not just the manipulation of a handheld phone, distracts drivers from road conditions.

Each of the study's 40 participants used a PatrolSim driving simulator four times, once with no distractions, once using a handheld phone, once using a hands-free phone and once while intoxicated to the 0.08 per cent blood-alcohol level.

Participants followed a simulated pace car that braked intermittently. Handheld and hands-free mobile phones were found to impair driving with no significant difference in the degree of impairment.

The results "call into question driving regulations that prohibit handheld cellphones and permit hands-free cellphones", according to the researchers.

The study found that, compared with drivers who were not distracted, those who talked on either handheld or hands-free phones drove slightly slower and were nine per cent slower to hit the brakes.

They also displayed 24 per cent more variation in following distance as their attention switched between driving and conversing, were 19 per cent slower to resume normal speed after braking and were more likely to crash.

Drivers drunk at the 0.08 per cent blood-alcohol level were found to drive more slowly than both undistracted drivers and drivers using mobile phones, yet more aggressively.

They followed the pace car more closely, were twice as likely to brake only four seconds before a collision would have occurred, and hit their brakes with 23 per cent more force.

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2159576/drivers-mobile-phones-bad

** Further to the above article it would be interesting to guage opinions on the use of hand-free equipment in cars. I have found fiddling about with Bluetooth and accessories more fiddly and distracting than using a handset. Not what was intended but in my experience many of the hand-free options are potentially more dangerous than normal phone use.

Lets see what your opinions are re the above and leave any comments etc below.

[Hands0n]

Without question the distraction of using a mobile phone while driving is a significant factor. Not enough research has been done on this to provide a quantative figure on the effect, and so too many people genuinely beleive that their driving is not impaired with or without a hands-free kit or headset. Perhaps anecdotally evidenced by whomever voted that driving without a hands free kit is safer - one has to wonder what they use to provide complete control of the steering and gear change requirements which often overlap!

Driving is a highly emotively charged topic. Everyone believes that they are doing it right pretty much all of the time. Few, in fact, are. There is insufficient control and discipline [of and by the driver] for that to be the case. A half-hour drive/ride down any road and one will witness all manner of "bad driving" that normally is quite benign, but has the potential to be downright lethal.

And so, getting back to the effect of using a mobile phone while driving, it is apparent to me that the lowering of concentration exacerbates the normal driving errors that drivers commit. Removing one active limb from the equation makes matters worse. From 100% the concentration and ability drop, sometimes to dangerous levels depending on the circumstances/nature of the phone call.

Background: My own background interest to this topic is that I have for the past 14 years (part and near-full time) delivered training to motorcyclists and car drivers - basic and advanced. Working alongside associates and friends who often have to clear up the aftermath of road traffic accidents is very sobering. They have no politics to air, they have to pick up and bag the remains and can tell in graphic detail what the nature of an accident and its causes are. In the main observation and concentration faults account for high 80%s of the cause. There is simply no room for complacency on our roads, no matter how good a driver you may believe you are.

The call for outlawing mobile phone use in case is a difficult/impossible one to police effectively. Insurance companies may well provide the lead where contributory factors are weighed up in any claim.

I do not believe that such an outlawing should occur - but I do believe that use without a hands-free kit (of any description) should qualify for a significant penalty combination of a monetary fine and points on the license.

[maxspank]

I voted safer with handsfree, because technically it is, but it's still not really safe. If you're talking to someone on the phone whilst driving, you're not fully concentrating. Sure you could say the same if you have a passenger in the car, but at least your passenger can see the road aswell, so its much safer.

You could say music isn't safe in the car either though, so its a tough call. I think I'd try and avoid using a phone in the car (if I drove).

[Ben]

I went with fiddly and distracting. I don't use the phone at all while driving, though that didn't stop a police officer pulling me over once just to give me a leaflet. That just about sums up my luck with mobile phones in general.

[3GScottishUser]

I have used a few phones in my car and just wonder how all that hands-free and Bluetooth parafanaila makes it safer. Going down the motorway one may have to pair a device and set up stuff (I know that should be done before but - who does all that).

Just picking up a handset and knowing where the controls are whist driving must surely be safer than trying to learn new complex connectivity stuff whilst driving, which is what many will have to do with the current legislation.

[Hands0n]

Any use of a phone by the driver of a car is dangerous due to the level of distraction from driving caused. That said, the less the driver has to do to operate the equipment during the call has to contribute to being safer, by degrees only.

Anyone who uses a handset in their car while driving is, in short, gambling with their and others lives. "It'll never happen to me!" seems to be the risk compensator. But it does happen, daily, to someone, so why not you, eventually? Essentially the question is, how lucky do you feel today?

Unfortunately, we all rather take road safety for granted because of the ubiquitousness of the car on our roads. But 3,200+ people were killed on the roads last year. More than 200,000 injury accidents were occasioned in the same period. No one knows for sure how many non-injury accidents occur annually, but it is estimated in millions!. Ask any Traffic Officer why and they'll tell you it is mostly down to poor observation, planning and driver error! So do drivers really need to focus less on driving due to use of the mobile phone? I believe not.

Using BT headsets to answer calls is as trivial as pressing the multifunction button on the headset, thats it. Making calls is much more difficult as the ambient noise makes voice recognition all but impossible. But what can be that important that requires making a call immediately? Why cannot the call wait until the driver can pull over and stop? If it is that important then surely it deserves more than the level of concentration affordable while driving.

The alternative, picking up a handset, is by far the worse option in terms of risk. There are too many operations to go through before the call is placed, distractions while fumbling the keypay, looking at and confirming the right name is found, placing the call etc.. Then there is the single-handed approach to steering and [perhaps] gear change, signalling and of course ... paying attention to the road.

I spend too much time out on the road [to be complacent] in all my businesses and pleasure using car or motorcycle. From the latter vantage point one can see all manner of bad behavior on the roads. Much of it, I offer anecdotally, occurs with the offending driver having a mobile phone pressed to the side of their head! I have actually witnessed two crashes this year as the driver, handset on ear, lost control and ploughed into (a) a lampost and (b) a stationary line of traffic.

No, to be 100% clear about this - there is nothing safer about using a handset while driving the car. Any suggestion otherwise is pure folly.