Using Cell Phone While Driving Akin to Driving Drunk, Say Researchers
According to a new study, talking on your cell phone while driving could be as dangerous as being under the influence of alcohol. Carnegie-Mellon University researchers used brain imaging to show how mobile phone use alone reduces 37 percent of brain activity engaged in driving. The findings were published in the latest gotta-have-it issue of the journal 'Brain Research,' and also suggest that using a hands-free headset doesn't make much of a difference.
Basically, the study found that drivers who spoke on their phones while driving tended to make many of the same driving mistakes as those who just got finished speaking to the bottle.
So to speak.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mike from joisey @ Mar 7th 2008 12:52PM
Hey this a bunch of crap!!! How much more government involvement do we really need in our personal lives. Give me a break!!! Whats next you wont be able to have a converstion with your fellow passengers because it may be "TOO DISTRACTING" or maybe no eating or smoking......PLEASE GIVE IT UP ALREADY!!
Buster @ Mar 7th 2008 1:07PM
Cell phones in cars are very dangerous. Even the face of this Carnegie-Melon study there are people who still think that it is okay to use them while at the wheel. How stubborn do you have to be? People on the cell phone are dangerous--always, but especially in parking lots and when making turns. They just can't pay attention to their driving.
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You can take a chance with YOUR life but not with MINE.
Roberta Kramer @ Mar 7th 2008 2:15PM
I am easily distracted, even while using a hands free phone if the conversation is heated with the person at the other end of the conversation
Mike @ Mar 7th 2008 3:01PM
I've used two-way radio in the car since 1962-- Amateur, CB, Local Government, old-style IMTS phone with full-size handset and rotary dial, and now a cellphone. Baffling, isn't it, how I've survived almost half a century of "drunken driving," eh?
Maybe, the radio has nothing to do with it... rather, it's just that more people are behind the wheel today who have the attention span of a gnat?
John @ Mar 17th 2008 8:34PM
This study doesn't compare apples to apples. I'd like to see a study where the "scientists" (and I'd like to see some real scientists for once instead of captive researchers to either the government or some company) compare talking with passengers, esp. children, to driving without distractions at all. I would contend that driving with children is much more dangerous than driving while using a cell phone. The issue is that reaction time and attention span go down whenever ANY distraction is presented. Let's try doing a study with talking on a cell phone vs. a). driving with a child under 5 in the car b). driving with a child 5 - 12 in the car c). driving with a teenager in the car d). listening to National Public Radio e). listening to a popular music station f). listening to classical music g). driving with another adult in the care h). driving with multiple adults in the car (the government pushed carpooling effect) and, finally, i). driving with multiple children in the car of varying ages.
I will bet anyone that driving wtih three toddlers in the car, or a fighting brother and sister or a bunch of teens or a bunch of rowdy pre-teens or even a bunch of adults in the car is MUCH more distracting than talking on the phone. I'll also bet that listening to an engaging story on NPR winds up just as dangerous as talking on the cell phone. Also that car-pooling is at least as dangerous as cell phone conversations. Let's compare apples to apples and then we have something to talk about (only a little pun intended).
Martin @ Mar 17th 2008 9:08PM
No one should brag about engaging in a bad habit and so far no accident. It's just a matter of odds. The ideal of course is no distractions. I don't even have a radio in my car. I don't understand why being alone with one's thoughts isn't enough on a drive in the country, which I make about three times a week. And yet on that windy country road I've almost "bought it" several times from cell phone drivers crossing the center line on curves! Too bad when such idiocy thins the herd it doesn't just "thin" them.
Realitycheck36 @ Mar 19th 2008 11:37PM
Ever notice when you're lost, you turn down the radio? No difference. Cell phones have become a huge distraction. I can't count the times I see someone going under the speed limit, swerving on the road, because they are on the phone. Is it really that important?
greg @ Mar 20th 2008 4:05AM
its hard to put a blinker on with a phone in your ear. outlaw it all togather.
pclassiclv @ Mar 21st 2008 11:32AM
Try using a cell phone while using a stick shift. I must be a genius !!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
bruce @ Mar 21st 2008 2:00PM
I believe it. I have seen the consequences of, and been the victim of people driving while using cellphones.
My car was totaled by a person talking on a cellphone. I was at a stoplight, and saw him coming in my mirror, but could do nothing to get out of the way. I just had to hope it would not injure me in any way.
Cellphones while driving are very dangerous.