Cell Phones More Distracting Than Passengers

According to Reuters report, new research suggests that mobile phones, even when used hands-free, are more distracting to drivers than passengers or being drunk.

The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology (PDF), concludes that driving while talking on the phone is significantly worse than chatting to a passenger, but if you're going to talk on the phone then having a co-pilot helps.

Using a hands-free device does not make things better and the researchers believe they know why -- passengers act as a second set of eyes, shutting up or sometimes even helping when they see the driver needs to make a maneuver.

The study put 96 adults in 48 pairs into a driving simulator and got them to drive for 10 minutes while chatting on the phone, chatting to their partner, and both sitting in silence - presumably following a suitable argument about which route to take. Of those pairs only 41 were used in the analysis, due to technical problems with the simulator.

When chatting on the phone drivers were more likely to slip across lanes, and drive closer to the vehicle in front, not to mention missing their exit as they tried to concentrate on too many things simultaneously. Drivers chatting to a passenger performed much better, perhaps because the passenger could also react to road conditions, even when not involved in the conversation - having a passenger on board helped drivers cope with talking on the phone while driving.

They have demonstrated that chatting on a mobile phone can slow the reaction times of young adult drivers to levels seen among senior citizens, and shown that drivers using mobile telephones are as impaired as drivers who are legally drunk.

Even more interesting is the analysis of the complexity of words and sentences used. Drivers talking on the phone tended to use longer sentences and words, effectively dominating the conversation, while those chatting to a passenger were happy to take a more passive role in the conversation.

(November 11, 2008)