Driving and mobile phoning can kill you.

[fable]

It can also net you a huge fine and a prison term in the UK, according to a law just passed. In the US, individual states have outlawed using a mobile phone while driving, but there's no federal statute against it.

What's your opinions on the matter?

[Mr Flibble]

I hate my phone when it comes to driving. If it rings, I'll either pull over to the side of the road or leave the messaing service to get it, and call back later.

There's not much that irritates me more on the road than people who are more interested in talking on the phone than their driving, and I've seen a number of accidents that had been caused that way. I even passed one guy who was texting while driving!

Unfortunately there's no law against it here, but it's probably on the way. I'd have to say at the very least, if you have to talk while driving, a hands-free kit should be required. I've used a few, and find it much less of a distraction than holding a phone all the time. Still not as good as not using a phone at all though.

[Tamerlane]

Its illegal here and rightly so, every time I see a driver with one hand on the steering wheel and another on a phone and showing a complete disregard for the other vehicles around him/her I can't help but let out a big sigh. Its an accident waiting to happen...

[Stilgar]

It's illigal to drive and phone (unless handsfree) in the Netherlands for about 2years now and I think it's a good thing.
I can be a real distraction whne you have one hand on the wheel and the other on a phone.
Or even worse when you squeeze it between your head and shoulder

[Minerva]

It is a good thing, and I believe all mobilephones, both hand held and hands free, should be banned while driving. However, I wonder what would happen if someone try to report accident/incident to police on the road? I suspect the government hasn't had a discussion about that.

I heard this morning on the radio that if you are in the heavy traffic jam it is still illegal to make a call, even if you switch the engine off. Then, how can we report an accident? You can't drive to the nearest hardshoulder on M25 or A4 near Heathrow at anytime, for eample. The spokesman (for something I can't remember. I was half asleep) said, "Of course, it depends on the circumstances, and all common sense apply." And some people's common sense is to call 999 and ask a football result...

[Gwalchmai]

Which states make it illegal?

I would support such a law in Arizona, if we don't already have it. People yapping on their cells in the car drive me nuts! Though I admit to being a little hypocritical at times, finding reason to make a quick call every now and then. But more often, I pull over or wait until I'm at my destination before calling.

[Georgi]

Originally posted by Minerva
I heard this morning on the radio that if you are in the heavy traffic jam it is still illegal to make a call, even if you switch the engine off. Then, how can we report an accident?

Hmm. Well, I think it goes to that common sense you mentioned. If the traffic is completely stationary, and your engine is turned off, I doubt you would be prosecuted. But if there's any kind of traffic movement you could be distracted from, well, that's a different matter.

I agree completely with the law on this one, driving while using a hand-held mobile phone is asking for trouble. Even a hands-free can be quite distracting. I actually didn't realise that it wasn't illegal to do yet, until I heard about this law - I must have been in Oz too long.

[ObsidianReturns]

As a medic, I'm somewhat torn on cell phones. On one hand, you get people acting like idiots and requiring our services because of having a cell. On the other hand, cell phones let people contact EMS a lot faster.

The key point is common sense. Using a phone while driving is foolish, but quick calls are acceptable in certain traffic. I admit I call ahead to let my folks know I'll be stopping over, or let my friends know I'll be late.
I don't have long involved conversations. Dialing while driving is admittedly stupid, so I usually make the call at the stop light. If it's a long call, I pull over.

It all comes down to common sense, which sadly isn't common

[C Elegans]

This is IMO not an easy question. According to previous statistics, 20-30% of all road accidents in the US are caused by distraction. In Sweden, about 6% of road accidents are caused by distraction, and in 0.5% of those cases, distraction comes from another passenger in the car. I have no idea why the difference is so large between the two countries, but I people drive more in the US and the traffic is heavier, so typical driving in the US might be more demanding than typical driving in Sweden. There might also be differences in how data is collected, what is classified as distraction etc. I haven't looked deeper into this.

However, speaking in the mobile phone while driving can clearly provide distraction. A simulator study at Utah University showed that reaction time was 20% longer when the driver was talking in the mobile phone, regardless of whether the phone was hand held or a handsfree was used. Another study showed that ability to detect things coming from the side were 50% better if the driver did not talk in a mobile phone, and this was also regardless whether the phone was hand held or a handsfree was used. Thus, it is the talking per se that causes the increase in reaction time due to split attention and more strain on the cognitive functions, not the motoric holding and using the phone.

Many countries around the world have either outlawed mobile phone use while driving altogether (like some US states or Japan), or allow it only when a handsfree is used (like Norway, Denmark and Holland). Surprisingly, there are no laws of regulations in Sweden against mobile phone use while driving, only a recommendation. This is strange for a country that loves rules and regulations more than any other country on earth, so I investigated this and it turned out that it is based on a report the Swedish Road Dept made in 2002. The report contains a compilation of international data plus a Swedish study. The Swedish study replicated the Utah finding that complex discussions by phone while driving, increased the reaction time. They found no difference between handsfree and hand held phone, neither in reaction time nor in the "safe driving parameters" they used (such as lateral movement, behaviour in lane changing, detecting movements from the side, detecting red lights etc) except for one measurement - speed. When drivers used hand held phone, they unconsciously drove slower while speaking.

Instead, many differences in safe driving parameters were dependant on factors in the driver rather than how the mobile phone. Young, inexperinced drivers performed 40% worse while speaking in the phone, whereas older drivers performed only 4% worse. Professional drivers demonstrated almost no change at all in neither safe driving parameters nor reaction time. Also, there were large differences between driving in city traffic versus driving at highways or in rural areas.

It has been demonstrated that talking in the mobile phone provide more distraction (as measured with reaction time tests) than listening to the radio. It has not been tested whether it provides more distraction than having a conversation with a passenger. In many countries, there is a high public demand for outlawing mobile phone speaking while driving, but the public opinion seems to have a limited connection to actual statistics and findings in studies. For instance, in the UK a poll showed that 90% of the population support outlawing handheld mobile phone use but not handsfree use, and this seems pointless as several studies show there are no differences between the two in safe driving or reaction time. From the data I have so far read, I can only conclude that the regulations that would make sense, is to outlaw mobile phone use in cities and among young drivers, but not among professional drivers. Outlawing mobile phone use totally for everybody seems unnecessary at this point IMO. However, my opionion might change depending on what data I see since there aren't many studies around and I haven't really dug very deep into this issue.

[The Z]

Don't forget the radiation

[nael]

In Texas they passed a law a couple years ago forbidding teenagers to ride in a car together. They figured that a lot ogf accidents were caused by not only teenagers becoming more rowdy when they are together but also the general distractions of conversation.
as for cell phones- yes, they should be banned. I've seen tests showing that reaction time, steady speed and steady distance from another car are all considerably worse than being drunk.

so, hang up and drink up!

[Lazarus]

I can just hear the bureaucrats now: "look another revenue stream!!" Cell phones are no more distracting than CD players, fellow travelers, controls for your heat and AC, etc. There are people who can drive responsibly with these things "distracting" them, and then there are those that won't - will another law change that? Setting this up as a crime is just plain silly, IMO.

[Sojourner]

I'm with Obsidian - I'll use the handy to call ahead, when I'm stuck in traffic.

[Maharlika]

I agree with everyone about using their mobile phones while driving as utterly stupid and irresponsible... that is, not using them handsfree.

I'm very much interested in what CE posted regarding that it seems not to matter whether the phone is used handsfree or otherwise.

I mean, I've always seen using a handsfree phone just like talking to a person with you inside the car...

...what I find ridiculous too is having a tv inside for the driver to also see... then again that would be a different topic.

[C Elegans]

Originally posted by Maharlika
I'm very much interested in what CE posted regarding that it seems not to matter whether the phone is used handsfree or otherwise.

I mean, I've always seen using a handsfree phone just like talking to a person with you inside the car...

Several studies show that the increase in reaction time and safe driving parameters such as detecting stimuli appearing at the sides, lateral position (ie how straight you drive), lane changes and detecting red traffic lights, are equally lowered in performance regardless of whether you use a handsfree or not. This is because the actual motoric handling of the phone does not interfere as much with driving as people seem to believe - instead, it is the split focus that interferes with the driving. Concentrating on a complex conversation is much more demanding on your cognitive skills than holding a small object in your hand and moving it around, so I am not surprised with these results. Nobody has done a study where talking in the phone with a handsfree and talking with a passenger is compared, but one study I read about indicated that talking in the mobile was more demanding on attention. This may well be, since while talking with another passenger, the driver often makes small pauses and delays in the conversation while attending to the traffic situation - it's natural do to so when the other person is present and see the same things happening as the driver sees, whereas when we speak by phone, we tend not to do that since the other person does not participate in the situation and it doesn't feel natural to suddenly stop speaking in the phone. However, remember that according to Swedish statistics, 0.5% of accidents are caused by the driver being distracted by other passengers, so having a complex conversation with a passenger is not optimal for safe driving either. But then again: some groups, ie experienced drives and professional drivers, are much less affected by this type of distraction than younger drivers, and people are much more affected in city driving than in rural areas and highways, so my conclusion is still that a decision to outlaw mobile phone talking for all and everybody during all circumstances, seems more of a political decision aimed to please the public opinion rather than based on scientific data and statistics.