Study: Cell Phone Use Ages Young Drivers

[mexican]

ridiculous but true linkie (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050202/ap_on_hi_te/yakking_motorists)

:saywhat:

the most interesting part of this tripe to me was:

And it doesn't matter whether the phone is hand-held or handsfree. Any activity requiring a driver to "actively be part of a conversation" likely will impair driving abilities, Strayer said.

so using this logic passengers should not be allowed in vehicles :rolleyes:

here's another gem:

In fact, motorists who talk on cell phones are more impaired than drunk drivers with blood-alcohol levels exceeding .08, Strayer and colleague Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology, found during research conducted in 2003.

I can tell you from personal experience that is B.S. ;)

[racer2c]

ridiculous but true linkie (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050202/ap_on_hi_te/yakking_motorists)

:saywhat:

the most interesting part of this tripe to me was:

And it doesn't matter whether the phone is hand-held or handsfree. Any activity requiring a driver to "actively be part of a conversation" likely will impair driving abilities, Strayer said.

so using this logic passengers should not be allowed in vehicles :rolleyes:

here's another gem:

In fact, motorists who talk on cell phones are more impaired than drunk drivers with blood-alcohol levels exceeding .08, Strayer and colleague Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology, found during research conducted in 2003.

I can tell you from personal experience that is B.S. ;)

Is it though? While I do not want to see a whitch hunt on cell phone usage, but just playing devils advocate for a minute, I know that there were times on the highway where I would be talking on my cell and at the end of the conversation I would realize that ten miles went by without me even realizing it. Strange feeling. I do believe there is a difference in how your mind focuses between talking on a cell and talking to people in the car.
In my commuting days it would be the people preoccupied by looking down trying to dial a number and ignore traffic that would be the biggest hazards.

[Ankf00]

The cell phone has had my friends just switch lines right into people on the freeway before nearly smashing them...

[B3RACER1a]

Some people can talk and drive at the same time.

[cart7]

Most of my close calls in the past few years have been involving cell phone users drifting into lanes (usually the one that I'm in) without any seeming knowledge of where they or anyone else is on the road.

[Sean O'Gorman]

I hate it when people talk on their cell phones while driving. I've had so many close calls it isn't even funny. The scariest moment is once I called a friend on his cell, and he stuffed his phone into his helmet while riding his YZF-R1! I hung up immediately, I'm not going to get someone killed because of his stupidity. :shakehead

If someone calls me when I'm driving, I'll end the conversation in 30 seconds or less so I can keep focused on the task at hand.

[nrc]

I do notice that talking on the cell phone, even with a headset, seems to require more attention than a normal conversation with someone in the car. I think the difference in sound quality may force you to focus more in order to hear and understand the other person.

Of course I'm not sure that most bad drivers would be paying any more attention if they weren't on the phone.

[Michaelhatesfans]

It's a good thing they weren't testing me back in the days where I'd drive a five speed while juggling a Super Big Gulp from my left hand to my right. The cup holders were too small. What was I supposed to do, drive thirsty?

Actually, cell phone drivers are one thing. The fuggers driving around with dogs in their laps, those guys have almost killed me more times than I can count.

[JLMannin]

Or how about people with DVD screens disguised as sunvisors, or working with a laptop. Once on the Tri-State tollway, I saw a lady reading a book while driving in bumber to bumper traffic.

I for one did a whole lot of taling on the cell phone a couple of years back when I was making 265 mile round-trips on three out of four weekends. I had a headset, and I paused a lot to concentrate on driving, so I was not likely the liveliest phone conversation. On several late night drives, talking on the phone kept me awake. Dialing was very distracting. The phone I have now is voice activated dialing, so that makes it much easier.

Now eating a foot long veggie sub from subway while driving is very distracting. And messy. I spread out napkins all over my lap and on the floor in front of me. I got some real strange lookd from sone truck drivers who could see into my car.