Cell Phone Driving Dangers

For drivers, danger on the phone
A study calls phone use risky as driving drunk.
By Tom Avril
Inquirer Staff Writer
Drivers who talk on cell phones may be just as dangerous as those who drink.
That's the sobering conclusion of a study published yesterday by University of Utah researchers who monitored 40 men and women on a driving simulator.
Drivers using hands-free phones were no better than those with the handheld variety, confirming previous studies. That suggests New Jersey's ban on cell-phone driving, which allows hands-free use, is only partly effective.


The findings, published in the journal Human Factors, take a swipe at a popular pastime that is taken for granted by millions of multitasking drivers.
At any given moment during the day, 10 percent of drivers are talking on their wireless devices, according to a 2005 estimate by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.


Bad idea, said psychologist Frank A. Drews, one of the Utah study's authors.
"It's kind of almost unpredictable how they are driving," Drews said.
When using cell phones, drivers had slower reaction times and more accidents, and they drove inconsistently, sometimes approaching other cars and then falling back, he said.


Cellular industry officials acknowledge that phones can be distracting but said they can be used sensibly. It's unfair to single out phones, said John Walls, a spokesman for CTIA-The Wireless Association, a Washington-based trade group.
"I think there are just a multitude of distractions that are out there," Walls said. "And by focusing on just one, you're creating a false sense of security among people."
In another recent study, by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, some other distractions - such as applying makeup and reading - were found to be much more risky.
In the Utah study, both cell-phone use and alcohol caused participants to "drive" more erratically over the simulated 24-mile course, but in different ways.


Cell-phone users were involved in more "accidents," and they took about 70 milliseconds longer to react when the car on the video screen in front of them hit the brakes - a delay during which a car moving at 55 m.p.h. would travel more than five feet on the road.


When the drivers were drunk - with a blood-alcohol content of 0.08, the legal threshold for intoxication - they followed other cars more closely and they braked 23 percent more forcefully, a potential problem for motorists behind them. They also had twice as many close calls - defined as stopping less than four seconds away from a collision - as they did when sober.


The participants were given a mixture of vodka and orange juice. Their level of drunkenness - equivalent to four drinks in an hour on an empty stomach for a 170-pound man - was verified with a monitor.


By one key measure, cell-phone users were even worse than drunken drivers.
When talking on the phone, the drivers had three accidents, but when they were drunk, they had none. The drivers also had no accidents when they were sober and not using phones.


Researchers said they were surprised that the drunken drivers were accident-free. They urged people not to misconstrue the results as suggesting that drunken driving was safe.
The authors speculated that the lack of accidents may have been due to the fact that the study was conducted in the morning, when participants were well rested.
Because the drunken drivers followed too closely and had more close calls, they would be expected to have accidents in the long run, Drews said.


Drunken drivers in the Utah study were barely illegal, while in real life, they may be much more impaired, said Anne McCartt, vice president for research at the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Crash rates start to rise with blood-alcohol levels below 0.08, and they climb steadily after that, she said.
The Utah researchers presented preliminary findings three years ago and are publishing them now after further analysis and peer review.


Besides New Jersey, the only states to ban driving while talking on a handheld cell phone are Connecticut and New York. Washington and some other communities have also banned it, including Conshohocken and West Conshohocken. A statewide ban passed the Pennsylvania Senate this week, sponsored by Sen. Joe Conti (R., Bucks), but a House bill has not been approved.


In New Jersey, police issued at least 7,000 tickets to drivers who were talking on cell phones during the first six months of 2005, the most recent time period for which data are available.


The real number of offenses is likely much higher, in part because charges are often negotiated away in municipal court, said Roberto Rodriguez, director of the state Division of Highway Traffic Safety.


Told about the new study, Rodriguez said he wasn't surprised that researchers found no difference between drivers who used handheld phones and those who used the hands-free variety legal in New Jersey.
"You are not cognizant of what is going on around you" during a phone conversation, he said. "That is the danger."


New Jersey Sen. Martha Bark (R., Burlington), a sponsor of the cell-phone law, said the exemption for the hands-free variety was a compromise to get an unpopular measure passed.


Bark said that she got her own hands-free car phone only at her children's urging and that she uses it sparingly.
"I do not talk on my phone," Bark said. "I call my office and say, 'I'm going to be five minutes late. Goodbye.' "
Drews, the Utah researcher, said he never phones while driving. His reason is more than just safety.


"I enjoy my quiet time," he said.

In New Jersey, police issued at least 7,000 tickets to drivers who were talking on cell phones during the first six months of 2005, the most recent time period for which data are available.