Editorial Comment: Unfortunately, they left the worst demographic out of their study: soccer moms.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6895319/

Drivers on cell phones kill thousands
Study explores mechanism behind deadly distraction


A new study has found that cellphone use in traffic causes younger drivers to drive like older drivers, with slower reaction times and larger error rates in detecting changes.

By Robert Roy Britt
Senior writer

Finally, empirical proof you can blame chatty 20-somethings for stop-and-go traffic on the way to work.



A new study confirms that the reaction time of cell phone users slows dramatically, increasing the risk of accidents and tying up traffic in general, and when young adults use cell phones while driving, they're as bad as sleepy septuagenarians.

"If you put a 20-year-old driver behind the wheel with a cell phone, their reaction times are the same as a 70-year-old driver who is not using a cell phone," said University of Utah psychology professor David Strayer. "It's like instantly aging a large number of drivers."

The study was announced Tuesday and is detailed in winter issue of the quarterly journal Human Factors.

Traffic jams and death
Cell phone distraction causes 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries in the United States every year, according to the journal's publisher, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

The reason is now obvious:

Drivers talking on cell phones were 18 percent slower to react to brake lights, the new study found. In a minor bright note, they kept a 12 percent greater following distance. But they also took 17 percent longer to regain the speed they lost when they braked. That frustrates everyone.

"Once drivers on cell phones hit the brakes, it takes them longer to get back into the normal flow of traffic," Strayer said. "The net result is they are impeding the overall flow of traffic."

Strayer and his colleagues have been down this road before. In 2001, they found that even hands-free cell phone use distracted drivers. In 2003 they revealed a reason: Drivers look but don't see, because they're distracted by the conversation. The scientists also found previously that chatty motorists are less adept than drunken drivers with blood alcohol levels exceeding 0.08.

Separate research last year at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign supported the conclusion that hands-free cell phone use causes driver distraction.

"With younger adults, everything got worse," said Arthur Kramer, who led the Illinois study. "Both young adults and older adults tended to show deficits in performance. They made more errors in detecting important changes, and they took longer to react to the changes."

The impaired reactions involved seconds, not just fractions of a second, so stopping distances increased by car lengths.

The latest study used high-tech simulators. It included people aged 18 to 25 and another group aged 65 to 74. Elderly drivers were slower to react when talking on the phone, too.

The simulations uncovered a twofold increase in the number of rear-end collisions by drivers using cell phones.

Older drivers seem to be more cautious overall, however.

"Older drivers were slightly less likely to get into accidents than younger drivers," Strayer said. "They tend to have a greater following distance. Their reactions are impaired, but they are driving so cautiously they were less likely to smash into somebody." But in real life, he added, older drivers are significantly more likely to be rear-ended because of their slow speed.

Other studies in the journal found:

Telephone numbers presented by automated voice systems compete for drivers' attention to a far greater extent than when the driver sees the same information presented on a display.
Interruptions to driving, such as answering a call, are likely to be more dangerous if they occur during maneuvers like merging to exit a freeway.
Things could get worse. Wireless Internet, speech recognition systems and e-mail could all be even more distracting.

I'm all for banning cell phones for drivers. Living in L.A. I saw some driving moves that would make your jaw drop, due to cell phones. Many thousands die every year due to these devices. Granted the radio may cause deaths as well, these telecommunication devices are much more in depth when it comes to dealing with every aspect of them. BAN'EM.

I think we should ban phones in general, but I really really hate cell phones too actually. I'm more a fan of the messenger boy.

I try to avoid talking on my cell phone while driving. I usually just wait and return the call when I'm parked so I don't make any dumb mistakes, or let a friend who's driving with me take the message for me.

I'm sick of watching and avoiding people who are trying to drive while talking on a cell phone, putting on make up, eating, drinking coffee (no straw), etc. People need to DRIVE when they are behind the wheel. I see so many people every day swerving in and out of their lane because they are doing other things you'd think everyone was drunk. The worst is when people have their head cocked to hold the cell phone while trying to WRITE, and trying to stear the car ON THE FREEWAY DOING 65-80MPH! It's frickin' ridiculous.

I never talk on my cell phone when I'm driving. It might cause me to spill my beer.

--PunkDavid

heh... i've done it. if i'm in the car with someone else i'll get them to answer, but i have been known to flip the phone and take a call when i'm on my own. I also talk to people when they're in the car with me and often only drive with one hand on the wheel... i should probably have my licence taken away...

oh... but i don't drink beer while driving... don't like the taste

Add in roadhead and snacking with the other hand, and you've got a fun trip!

I've got a friend who had full-on road coitus at 55 on the New York State Thruway. I have no idea how he did that. It's hard enough to masturbate while you drive, especially if you're balancing a beer on your knee.

--PunkDavid

Should have saved the link but there was a car crash a few days ago where the driver was knocked out and when police found him, crashed into the tree, they also noticed his pants were pulled down.


Perfect way to be found.

it is illegal to talk on the phone while driving in my country. that's like a $100+ penalty

It's illegal in Illinois and many other states in this country. People still do it all the time.

It's illegal to drink beer in the car too, except in Texas.

--PunkDavid

Are you serious about the texas bit? *blink*

(you're not allowed to drink beer in a car anywhere, and I don't know how widespread drive-in liquor stores are anymore)

--PunkDavid

Maybe not anywhere in the US, but that's definitely not the case in Mexico.



The only place I can think of is Wyoming.

There's one in Ann Arbor, MI.

Actually, in many states the passengers can consume alcohol. Montana being one.

The only law in Mexico is "don't piss off the wrong person".

--PunkDavid

that... that is special.

They had those in San Antonio when I was stationed there. Kind of cool.