Friday, June 30, 2006

Cellphone talkers as dangereous as drunk drivers

People who talk on cellphones while driving, even using "hands-free" devices, are as impaired as drunk drivers, researchers in US said on Thursday.

The study, published in Human Factors, also found that compared with undistracted drivers, motorists who talked on either handheld or hands-free cellphones:

• Drove slightly slower.
• Were 9% slower to hit the brakes and 19% slower to resume normal speed after braking.
• Displayed 24% more variation in following distance as their attention shifted between driving and talking.
• Were more likely to crash.

The study supports the previous findings that there's no difference between hand-held and hands-free phones.

Even now in US and most other countries, it is illegal to talk on cell phones while driving. Keep the attention on the road without getting distracted by the phone, if one is driving. Pull up and talk, if one really has to. You would think that this is common sense. But the fact that more stringent legislation and enforcement is called for, makes one believe that some people prefer to take leave of their senses than do what is right.

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