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News in Science - Mobile phone link to accidents - 29/05/2001

cliffnotes:

Their previous study in 1997 published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that drivers using mobile phones faced a four-fold increase in their chances of having a collision, and handsfree kits offered no safety advantage.

In the new report, Redelmeier and Tibshirani said "Making calls on a cellular phone is distinctly more risky than listening to the radio, talking to passengers and other activities commonly occurring in vehicles."

edit:

The Pedestrian Council : Even drunk drivers are not as dangerous as our ... Mobile phone pests

DRUNK drivers can stop faster in an emergency than sober drivers who are using their mobile phones, new British research has shown.

A study by the Transport Research Laboratory found drivers travelling at 113km/h took an average of 31m to stop.

But drivers using hand-held mobile phones took 45m and even those talking on a hands-free phone took an average of 39m.

Cell Phones and Mobile Phones -- The Danger for Drivers

A study commissioned by a leading UK insurance company, Direct Line (2003), revealed that talking on any cell phone while driving is so mentally distracting that it is as dangerous as driving when slightly over the legal blood-alcohol limit. (In Britain, the BAC limit is 0.08%, the same as in the U.S.A.)

I see people here condoning mobile phone use whilst driving, yet are all quick to point out the dangers of drink driving. The facts do not support the notion that mobile phone use is all OK in comparison... Over here the BAC limit is 0.05. 'Slightly over' 0.08 is almost double that...


And from personal experience....

I used to occasionally use my phone in the car, about 6 years ago.

One day, I got off the phone, and realised i'd ended up 5km down the road, and had no fucking clue as to what had transpired on the way there. I quit doing it after that....



If you're one of those people who do use the phone in your car - next time you finish a call, see how much shit from the journey you can remember from whilst you were on the phone. I think you'll find you'll probably be quite scared at just how little you can remember...