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Cellphone Drivers Drive Like Drunks

Posted by timothy on from the cut-me-off-right-there-in-the-left-lane dept.

TDavid writes "A University of Utah study claims that drivers who use a cell phone will be 'more impaired than drunken drivers with blood alcohol levels exceeding 0.08.' The study also says that use will turn a driver who is age 20 into age 70. Hands-free systems apparently don't help much either as they still require a driver to 'actively be part of a conversation.' What about in vehicle systems like OnStar?"

6 of 1,032 comments (clear)

  1. And edit like? by pjt33 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Does this 0.08 "blood alcohol level" have any units?

    1. Re:And edit like? by leapis · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes and no. It measures the amount of milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood, but it can be read as a straight percentage too (which has no units). If your blood alcohol level is 0.08, then .08% (8 hundreths of one percent) of your blood is alcohol.

    2. Re:And edit like? by The_Sock · · Score: 3, Informative

      Those "ironmen" are lightweights compared to this guy.

      --
      For a good time call www.sawkie.com
  2. Re:Old People by Psmylie · · Score: 4, Informative
    I agree, to a point... Where I live, there are options available(Metro Mobility, bus, etc.) which, although inconvenient, can get an older person almost anywhere. Yet, older folks around here still fight tooth and nail to retain their driving "rights". When a lot of elderly people say they can't survive without a car, they mean they can't live as convieniently without a car. Public transportation improvements alone are not enough, since many seniors would refuse to take it.

    As far as having elderly people drive... my Grandmother is already at the point where I consider her a hazard to public safety, even though she's convinced that she's a good driver. My Aunts and Uncles are afraid to pressure her into quitting driving (they might make her MAD or something! the horror!). I told them that I would talk to her about it, because her independance is not worth the lives of the family that she might kill because she got distracted at the wrong time or couldn't react quickly enough in an emergency.

    I've already told my own mother that I'm taking the keys away when she gets too old. If her reaction is any indication as to how it will go when I actually try, then I'm sure to be in for a fight on that one...

    --

    psmylie's dictionary: Godzillion (noun) Any number large enough to destroy Tokyo

  3. Re:Interesting... by rjpcal · · Score: 5, Informative
    I shall have to see if I can acquire these reports. However, I would feel better about the conclusions if they came from more than one source: D. L. Strayer and W. A. Johnston appear to have done the bulk of the work [in both reports] collaboratively. A second report from a wholly different group would help validate Strayer & Johnston's work.
    1. Treffner, PJ; Barrett, R Hands-free mobile phone speech while driving degrades coordination and control TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH PART F-TRAFFIC PSYCHOLOGY AND BEHAVIOUR, 7 (4-5): 229-246 JUL-SEP 2004
    2. McCarley, JS; Vais, MJ; Pringle, H; et al. Conversation disrupts change detection in complex traffic scenes HUMAN FACTORS, 46 (3): 424-436 FAL 2004
    3. Rakauskas, ME; Gugerty, LJ; Ward, NJ Effects of naturalistic cell phone conversations on driving performance JOURNAL OF SAFETY RESEARCH, 35 (4): 453-464 2004
    4. Gugerty, L; Rakauskas, M; Brooks, J Effects of remote and in-person verbal interactions on verbalization rates and attention to dynamic spatial scenes ACCIDENT ANALYSIS AND PREVENTION, 36 (6): 1029-1043 NOV 2004
    5. Golden, C; Golden, CJ; Schneider, B Cell phone use and visual attention PERCEPTUAL AND MOTOR SKILLS, 97 (2): 385-389 OCT 2003
    6. Spence, C; Read, L Speech shadowing while driving: On the difficulty of splitting attention between eye and ear PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE, 14 (3): 251-256 MAY 2003
  4. Re:Old People by Big+Boss · · Score: 4, Informative
    STOP in the middle of a busy street for no reason so they can put on their glasses.

    I had an old guy slam the brakes to a FULL STOP in the MIDDLE lane of an Interstate (I-15 to be exact) because he missed his exit. This was 65-0 with tires locked up. I damn near rear-ended him and I had about 5 seconds between us. They car behined me almost hit me, etc.. It was damn near a chain-reaction accident. As it was, we had about 1/4 mile worth of cars backed up while he made a hard right to get on the off-ramp. I just about got out of my car to kick his ass for that one. Could have killed any number of people if everyone else on the road hadn't been paying attention.

    Competency testing should be REQUIRED for ALL ages. I don't care if you're 16 or 90, if you can't drive safely, get the hell off the road! If we had cops watching more for this kind of shit and less sitting around eating donuts with thier radar on, perhaps the roads would get a little safer.