MSNBC Story

Hardly suprising - lot of you probably have plenty of stories. I try to be understanding of limited use, but I witness seemingly frivilous talk in rush hour traffic with drivers doing patently unsafe things in traffic.

Legally, cell phone use may be on a collision course as some states ban it's use. This may boil down to personal freedom vs. public safety. I am aware of some vehicles have black boxes. In time, it may be possible to tie-in if the driver was on the phone during a crash

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I wonder if anyone has studied the correlation of accidents in relation to uses of in-dash cd changers, or any of the profusion of new electronics (see Navi, etc). And one-handed driving while drinking coffee, fixing hair, petting poodles, or wrangling over family budgets, or yelling at kids in the back seat.

I don't question the risk claims of cell phone use. I do wonder whether mobile phones represent just a newer, added risk factor, or whether they are significantly different and pose a much greater risk than a whole number of other driver distractions that we mostly accept as part of the risk and freedom of driving. Erratic, unsafe driving can be ticketed now, I think, no matter what the specific cause. I concede that I take note of a driver on the phone near me in traffic, but also one-handed drivers with a cig and a big gulp in the other hand.
Lewis

I read a recent study of medical residents after call (read sleep deprivation). They score about the same as someone intoxicated. I have never DUI'd, but I have driven while talking on the phone, and sleep deprived. At least for me, the phone is worse. I just focus more on the phone than the road. When sleepy, I *know* it, and drive much more carefully to compensate for my poor reflexes and response times. Nowadays, I very rarely use the cell while driving, and only if I know it will be a few second conversation. Otherwise, I pull over for a couple of minutes.

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I agree that there are a lot of varieties of driver distraction - cell phones are just the more conspicious.

Recently I did a rant on the more extreme one-handed drivers - the ones really reclined or with food/phone in the other. I might not care if they splat on the highway except for the pile-up getting around their wreck.

Yes, there are a lot of flavors of drivers feigning autopilot.

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EricGo,

Agreed on drowsy driving - I was pulled over ten years ago for that.

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I read a study a while ago that highlighted the problem with cell phones and cars: It's not the one-handed driving that's causing problems, it's the mental distraction of engaging in conversation that removes people's attention from driving.

This is in contradiction to those (corporations?) claiming that hands-free phones make driving and talking safer. I quite agree, talking on the phone is very distracting, no matter what method you use to talk with.

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That's the part of these studies which puzzles me: is conversation over a phone more distracting than an involved conversation with 1-4 people in the car with the driver? I don't doubt the claim that cell phone use while driving takes some attention away from driving. I just don't know how much more distracting it is than face to face conversation while driving, especially with some faces...:=)
Lewis

I'm not too chatty when I'm talking to passengers in the car. Sometimes they are the navigator.

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As others have said, there are a lot of variables and I don't think we'll ever get a clear answer. I personally use either a headset of "speaker phone" option when I'm on the phone while driving. I also don't try to hold business conversations or anything where I need to take notes (mental or actual). I have a fairly long drive so I often call my husband on the way home and we talk about our days etc.... BUT I'm always aware that my primary job is driving! My husband hears me commenting on other drivers, traffic hold ups etc during those conversations. I also remember one memorable occasion when I was driving home behind my daughter just after we had picked up a new car for her (literally on our way home from the dealership) - she was ahead of me and all of a sudden, all my husband heard was "OH MY GOD - OH MY GOD!" ... coming down a steep hill on a multi lane road (not freeway), a herd of deer had just entered traffic... cars were slamming their brakes etc. Daughter (ahead of me) successfully avoided hitting any deer or other vehicles, a couple of cars weren't so lucky. AFTER it was evident that everything was ok, I explained to him what happened.

I personally don't think cell phone conversations are any more distracting than if I had that person in the car with me. In fact, it's possible that I'd be glancing at them occasionally so having them IN the car may actually be more distracting. I think that we Americans tend to go on "auto pilot" too much and therefore do not pay enough attention in general. The cell phone just makes a handy target.