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Study says hands-free driving not less risky
Source: Agencies |
December 16, 2011, Friday
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Like it or not, when someone is talking to you, your brain is listening, processing and thinking about what's being said - even when you're in the driver's seat trying to concentrate on traffic.
That's why drivers get distracted during cellphone conversations, even when using hands-free phones, researchers said. It's also part of the reason why the United States National Transportation Safety Board went ahead this week with a recommendation it knows a lot of drivers won't like - that states ban hands-free, as well as handheld, cellphone use while driving.
It's not where your hands are, but where your mind is that counts, NTSB Chairperson Deborah Hersman told reporters.
The board doesn't have the power to force states to impose a ban, but its recommendations carry significant weight. And, judging from the public reaction, they've already started a national conversation on the subject. NTSB has been swamped with calls, emails and tweets from drivers both praising and condemning the action.
But it's the proposed hands-free ban that has generated the most controversy. "There is a large body of evidence showing that talking on a phone, whether handheld or hands-free, impairs driving and increases your risk of having a crash," Anne McCartt, senior vice president for research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said.
Jim Hedlund, a safety consultant and former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official, recently examined 300 cellphone studies for the Governors Highway Traffic Safety Administration. He couldn't recall a single study that showed drivers talking on a headset or hands-free phone were at any less risk of an accident than drivers with one hand on the wheel and a phone in the other.
A similar analysis for the government of Sweden recently came to the same conclusion: "There is no evidence suggesting that hands-free mobile phone use is less risky than handheld use."
What's missing is hard evidence that accidents are increasing because of cellphone use. One reason is that US privacy laws have made it difficult for researchers to study whether cell phones were in use in accidents in the US. The two large studies that have been done - in Canada and Australia - found drivers were four times more likely to have a crash if talking on a cellphone. It didn't matter whether the cellphone was hands-free or handheld.
But that hasn't translated to an increase in highway fatalities in the US, which hit their lowest level since 1949 last year.
Of 6,000 drivers surveyed by the highway administration, 40 percent said they don't consider it unsafe for drivers to talk on a hands-free cell phone. Less than 12 percent said that about a hand-held phone.
That's why drivers get distracted during cellphone conversations, even when using hands-free phones, researchers said. It's also part of the reason why the United States National Transportation Safety Board went ahead this week with a recommendation it knows a lot of drivers won't like - that states ban hands-free, as well as handheld, cellphone use while driving.
It's not where your hands are, but where your mind is that counts, NTSB Chairperson Deborah Hersman told reporters.
The board doesn't have the power to force states to impose a ban, but its recommendations carry significant weight. And, judging from the public reaction, they've already started a national conversation on the subject. NTSB has been swamped with calls, emails and tweets from drivers both praising and condemning the action.
But it's the proposed hands-free ban that has generated the most controversy. "There is a large body of evidence showing that talking on a phone, whether handheld or hands-free, impairs driving and increases your risk of having a crash," Anne McCartt, senior vice president for research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said.
Jim Hedlund, a safety consultant and former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official, recently examined 300 cellphone studies for the Governors Highway Traffic Safety Administration. He couldn't recall a single study that showed drivers talking on a headset or hands-free phone were at any less risk of an accident than drivers with one hand on the wheel and a phone in the other.
A similar analysis for the government of Sweden recently came to the same conclusion: "There is no evidence suggesting that hands-free mobile phone use is less risky than handheld use."
What's missing is hard evidence that accidents are increasing because of cellphone use. One reason is that US privacy laws have made it difficult for researchers to study whether cell phones were in use in accidents in the US. The two large studies that have been done - in Canada and Australia - found drivers were four times more likely to have a crash if talking on a cellphone. It didn't matter whether the cellphone was hands-free or handheld.
But that hasn't translated to an increase in highway fatalities in the US, which hit their lowest level since 1949 last year.
Of 6,000 drivers surveyed by the highway administration, 40 percent said they don't consider it unsafe for drivers to talk on a hands-free cell phone. Less than 12 percent said that about a hand-held phone.
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