cell phones + driving = drunk driving

Driven to Distraction

I absolutely love it when I find research that backs up my position.

HANG UP YOUR CELL PHONES, DRIVERS!!!

Psychological research is showing that when drivers use cell phones, whether hand-held or hands-off, their attention to the road drops and driving skills become even worse than if they had too much to drink. Epidemiological research has found that cell-phone use is associated with a four-fold increase in the odds of getting into an accident – a risk comparable to that of driving with blood alcohol at the legal limit.

If you’re talking on a cell phone in a complex conversation, you might as well be driving drunk. And let me remind you . . . that’s illegal (not to mention stupid).

One thing this summary article does not do is define what a complex conversation is, but I assume that is spelled out in the research itself. I’m going to insert my own opinion here and say that the level of complexity that has a detrimental effect probably differs with the individual, but I’ll also bet it encompasses more types of conversations than most people would assume.

Some further interesting quotes:

A special eye-tracking device measured where, exactly, drivers looked while driving. Even when drivers directed their gaze at objects on the road (during simulations), they still didn’t “see” them because their attention – during a cell-phone call – was elsewhere.

This quote goes beyond cell phones:

They concluded that the complexity of the conversation was what compromised concentration, whether the driver talked by phone or to a passenger. Thus, distractions inside one’s own head can be just as disruptive as environmental distractions.

Strayer and his colleagues compared data for hand-held and hands-free devices and found no difference in the impairment to driving, thus, they say, raising doubts about the scientific basis for regulations that prohibit only hand-held cell phones.

And in the “tips for drivers” section:

Second, drivers should also be aware that whether a cell phone is hands-on or hands-free makes no difference in terms of mental distraction. According to the research, the mental activity of conversation, whether in person or over the phone, is what takes one’s mind off the road. What happens in the head happens regardless of what happens with the hands.

And it doesn’t matter how smart you are…

Susceptibility to distraction while driving has nothing to do with smarts or skill. In fact, psychologist Durso and his doctoral student Andy Dattelpoint out that although experts can do many things automatically, detecting hazards is not among them. Thus, Durso says, “anything that disrupts resource management can have consequences even in experts.”

No related posts.