Hands Free Phone devices not as safe as you may think
You know that driving and using a hand held cell phone is dangerous, so you invested in either a speakerphone or bluetooth earpiece. You can now safely talk on your cell phone and drive, right? You may be surprised that the answer is still “no.�
Human Factors Summer 2006 issue, the quarterly journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, published the findings of a study conducted by researchers at the University of Utah. The study found that using a hands free cell phone can be as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol. The study showed “motorists who talked on hands-free cell phones were 18% slower in braking and took 17% longer to regain the speed they lost when they braked.�
A study from the NHTSA conducted in September 2004 found drivers using hand held cell phones had to redial calls 18% of time whereas drivers using hands free devices had to redial more than twice as many times — 40% of the time. Researchers suggested hands free devices “may provide drivers with a false sense of ease.�
Another study conducted by the NHTSA published in April 2006 determined that 80% of accidents and 65% of “near-crashes� were caused by driver inattention immediately preceding the event. The researchers found that the most common cause of driver inattention was caused by cell phone usage. “However, cell phone use is far less likely to be the cause of a crash or near-miss than other distractions, according to the study. For example, while reaching for a moving object such as a falling cup increased the risk of a crash or near-crash by nine times, talking or listening on a hand-held cell phone only increased the risk by 1.3 times.�
A study conducted by AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety published in August 2003 seems to support the findings of the above study. These researchers determined that drivers ten to be less distracted by cell phone usage than by “other common activities, such as reaching for items on the seat or glove compartment or talking to passengers.�
