Have you ever been aggravated by a driver who is distracted while talking on his or her mobile telephone? It is obviously difficult to keep your mind on your driving while talking on the phone. Now there is a scientific study that documents the dangers of using a mobile phone while driving. A new English study shows that using a mobile phone impairs driving behavior more than being drunk.
Direct Line, England’s leading insurer who commissioned a study at the Transport Research Laboratory, is hoping their findings will lend support to a total ban on the use of hand-held mobile phones while driving. The Direct Line study, carried out over three months, involved testing the reaction times and driving performance of a panel of volunteers using a sophisticated driving simulator. Researchers tested how driving was impaired by talking on a hand-held mobile phone, a hands-free phone, and when drivers had consumed enough alcohol to be above the legal drink-drive limit.
The results demonstrate that drivers' reaction times were, on average, 30% slower when talking on a hand-held mobile phone compared to being drunk and nearly 50% slower than normal driving conditions. According to the tests, drivers talking on a hand-held were less able to maintain a constant speed and found it more difficult to keep a safe distance from the car in front.
On average, it took hand-held mobile phone users half a second longer to react than normal and a third of a second longer to react compared to when they were drunk. At 70 mph, this half-second difference is equivalent to traveling an additional 46 feet before reacting to a hazard on the road.
Using a hands-free mobile phone also proved to be a considerable distraction for drivers. In fact, participants in the study stated that they found it easier to drive drunk than to drive and use a mobile phone (hand-held or hands-free). In addition, drivers using either a hands-free or a hand-held mobile phone significantly missed more road warning signs than when drunk.
