http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060314/sc_space/distracteddriversevenhandsfreetalkingisdangerous

Quote :

"Distracted Drivers: Even 'Hands-Free' Talking is Dangerous Cell phones have been labeled dangerous in a handful of studies cataloguing how they distract drivers. One solution in many minds is the "hands-free" phone. ADVERTISEMENT But it turns out that's a lousy idea, too. In fact, your reaction time behind the wheel seems to be slowed whenever you are doing anything but just driving. Pushing buttons In a new study 40 students drove a car simulator with a steering wheel, gas and brake pedals and a large plasma screen. They followed a lead car and were told to brake as soon as they saw brake lights. They were also asked to do other simple tasks, such as press a button on the steering wheel or say a word out loud when they saw a light flash in the lead car's rear window. On average they were 174 milliseconds slower at braking when the two tasks occurred at the same time compared to when the tasks were presented 350 milliseconds apart. That 174-millisecond delay translates to 16 feet in a car going 65 mph, the scientists say. We can't look and listen Importantly, the delays were the same whether the tasks involved visual or audible input, vocal or manual responses. "This study joins a growing body of research showing that 'freeing up the hands' does not result in faster brake response times," said Jonathan Levy of the University of California, San Diego. The reason, according to a study last year, is that the human brain struggles to look and listen at the same time. The new results are detailed in the March issue of the journal Psychological Science. Higher Speed Limits Don't Cause More Deaths Risk of Crash Triples in Trucker's Final Hour Air Bags Dangerous through Age 14 "

good thing they spent who knows how much money to figure this out

3/15/2006 7:39:47 AM

they knew it

they just had to have it documented i guess and get money too

3/15/2006 8:02:16 AM

so if car radios are allowed cell phones should be too

[Edited on March 15, 2006 at 11:15 AM. Reason : which is what i have said in every thread about this]

3/15/2006 11:14:48 AM

i attribute these accidents to idiots that shouldn't be driving and would have gotten in an accident anyways

i multitask a whole lot in the car while driving - cellphone/sometimes eating/watching a tv show or movie or music video/i used to aim chat but i haven't done that in a bit/web surf - it seems to me you just need to know your limits when driving - and a lot of idiots don't

3/15/2006 11:16:45 AM

Quote :

"it seems to me you just need to know your limits when driving - and a lot of idiots don't"

Exactly.

3/15/2006 11:29:53 AM

no shit. just cuz some lame ass doesnt know how to talk and drive doesnt mean we all dont... I think it should be more like if you crash cuz you were on a phone you suck and would have ended up crashing anyway, so why's it matter? And id bet money that if you could figure out how to prove this, it would be the same shit with drinkin and driving and all sorts of other shit. I know people that blew like .16s and were drivin fine, and people taht would blow about a .04 and cant fucking do it... its all relative

bottom line, shit happens, deal with it, leave the rest of us alone....

3/16/2006 9:35:09 PM

yeah but wouldn't it be different if you had to "remember" to speak at a certain time (for instance in your example, when the flash of light occurs...). If I'm on the phone and driving and the car in front of me breaks, I don't keep talking. I would either stop talking (if I'm the talker) or ask what they just said (if I were the listener) because I had missed it since I was driving and needed to pay more attention to my surroundings than listening to whatever the other person had to say.

I really cannot understand that people would be so distracted on a damn phone call than to ignore their surroundings. Maybe that's just me though.

3/17/2006 2:03:40 AM

talking on the phone requires more attention that listening to the radio

3/17/2006 2:12:03 AM

why'd some idiot show up and claim that drunk driving is a-ok?

3/17/2006 2:14:08 AM

...not drunk driving... more when youre actually drunk instead of drinking and driving....

3/17/2006 2:23:49 AM