AA Report on Mobile Phone Use and Driving

[Bad Company]

I've posted this before, but the bulk of the content in any face to face conversation is non-verbal. With any phone, you flter that out and have to pay far more attention to the verbal aspect. That demands more concentration, and that distracts from driving. There is no difference in that whether it hands-free or not.

I can't entirely agree with that. Yes there is a degree of distraction with driving on hands free but nothing like as much as using a hand held or worst of all texting.

I have to admit that I sometimes use hands free while driving. Yes there is a degree of distraction but no more than say carrying screaming children imo.

 

[John the Monkey]

I can't entirely agree with that. Yes there is a degree of distraction with driving on hands free but nothing like as much as using a hand held or worst of all texting.

I have to admit that I sometimes use hands free while driving. Yes there is a degree of distraction but no more than say carrying screaming children imo.

This study examines the effect of hands free specifically (no comparison to the other things you mention though);

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/hands_free_mobile/

Edit: The most frequently referenced comparative study regarding hands free and hand held mobile use (University of Utah, 2001) found that they were equally distracting (can't find the original paper online though).

TBH, knowing what I know now, I wouldn't answer a 'phone at all while I was driving.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

I've had a couple of calls whilst driving and taken them on a hands free kit... my 'conversation' was appalling as I was still concentrating more on the driving and having to ask them to repeat themselves and then big pauses while I negotioated lights etc. before turning my attention back to the call to answer them... not worth the hassle as I was paying far more attention to the road!!

 

[Davidc]

The phone companies would complain, as would some users, but it must be technically simple to stop phones changing cells because they've been moved. Put that in and anyone not actually moving would be unaffected. BUT - No more distracted moving car drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, horse riders, etc. No more infuriating phone users on busses and trains either.

 

[Dan B]

I'd complain: no phoning people while a passenger in a car, no checking my email on the bus ... frankly, sounds like a daft idea

 

[John the Monkey]

I'd complain: no phoning people while a passenger in a car, no checking my email on the bus ... frankly, sounds like a daft idea

Yeah. Hardware solution to a people problem, imo. The big question is why so few people give a shoot about their driving, surely?

 

[summerdays]

Yeah. Hardware solution to a people problem, imo. The big question is why so few people give a shoot about their driving, surely?

Cos - accidents happens to other people, who aren't skilled enough to do two things at once (I assume that is what they think).

 

[atbman]

Idle chit-chat on hands free phones isn't really distracting - but work related issues can seriously detract from concentrating on the road.

And your evidence for this is?

 

[jonesy]

http://www.trl.co.uk/online_store/r...ars_the_relative_hazards_of_mobile_phones.htm


...
Comparison was made between the conversations held over the carphone and with the front seat passenger. There was a clear difference on all conversation measures showing that performance was worse when the response was via the handsfree carphone. It is concluded that hands-free phone conversations impair driving performance more than these other common in-vehicle distractions.

I've already posted this in this thread but it appears that a reminder is needed....

 

[CotterPin]

What about the situation I saw this morning? Mobile phone held up to the driver's mouth by their passenger? It was sort of hand's free.

 

[byegad]

I'd suggest that anyone who doubts it spend a few minutes watching other people talking on the phone, observing where there attention is, where they are looking, their hand gestures etc. It is pretty obvious that talking on the phone occupies a very significant amount of our capacity for attention and really ought not be done at the same time as anything like driving that requires absolute priority for our attention.

This does not apply to the woman I followed yesterday who was turning round to talk to her rear seat passenger. I'd have rather seen her on the phone, at least there would be a slim chance for her to be looking out of the windscreen!

 

[Over The Hill]

What about all the tossers peering at the littlescreen in their pratnavs?

More than once has a close one with some twat who is both lost and not looking at the road.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I've had a couple of calls whilst driving and taken them on a hands free kit... my 'conversation' was appalling as I was still concentrating more on the driving and having to ask them to repeat themselves and then big pauses while I negotioated lights etc. before turning my attention back to the call to answer them... not worth the hassle as I was paying far more attention to the road!!

I use hands free every day at work, and I find the same thing. Not on motorways though, which can often be driven on with half your brain disengaged. But in towns, my conversation goes to pieces as I stuggle to string a sentence together while manoevring the truck around junctions and roundabouts.

 

[Fnaar]

It's amazing the number of radio shows that take calls from (for example) "Sheila on the A21" (etc)... only once have I heard a show host making sure that the caller is parked... p'raps this is usually done before the calls get on air... no idea, but I do wonder about it... and of course p'raps "Sheila" is a passenger....

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

What about all the tossers peering at the littlescreen in their pratnavs?

More than once has a close one with some twat who is both lost and not looking at the road.

What gets me is the position most people have them in... right in the middle of the windscreen - WTF??? Blind spot anyone????