Cell phones distract drivers more than chatterbox passengers: study

You know it's true, I know it's true, everyone knows it's true, but there's still good reason to welcome research released today that purports to prove that using a cell-phone while driving is more distracting than even the most blabbermouthed passenger.

That good reason? Every addition of scientific data to buttress what we all know to be true at a gut level will hasten the day when driving and talking on the telephone are once again separate and distinct activities.

Can't come soon enough.

From Reuters:

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 research, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, adds to a growing body of evidence that mobile phones can make driving dangerous.

Dave Strayer of the University of Utah and colleagues 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.

For the latest study, also using a simulator, Strayer's team showed that drivers using a hands-free device drifted out of their lanes and missed exits more frequently than drivers talking to a passenger.

 And if that's not enough to get you behind the ever-growing anti-yapping-and-driving movement, researcher Strayer has also demonstrated that cell-phone addicts are responsible for the worsening of traffic jams.

Accidents, road rage, traffic jams ... won't surprise me if they litter more, too.

Welcome regulars and passersby. Here are a few more recent Buzzblog items. And, if you'd like to receive Buzzblog via e-mail newsletter, here's where to sign up.

This Year's 25 Geekiest 25th Anniversaries.

I need a "wallet phone" why?

YouTube takes a page from xkcd.

Airport "X-ray art" isn't likely to amuse TSA screeners.

Almost half of Google's products -- including 4-year-old Gmail -- remain in beta. Why?

Doing the Laptop Drive of Shame.

Bank of America to support Firefox, finally.

Top 10 Buzzblog posts for '07: Verizon's there, of course, along with Gates, Wikipedia and the guy who lost a girlfriend to Blackberry's blackout.