I’m Not Celling, but My Driving’s Smellin’
Nobody asked me but . . .
Further evidence that cell phones and driving don’t mix comes from a recent University of Michigan study. But if you are among the few who don’t “imbibe” in celling on the road, don’t congratulate yourself just yet. Because the UM Transportation Research Institute study found that talking with passengers, eating, drinking and grooming may be just as dangerous for drivers as placing a call.
Drivers who engage in any of the aforementioned activities showed similar decreased levels of driving performance as those using cell phones. All non-driving activities such as eating and talking were associated with more erratic steering behavior. Speed fluctuation, checking side mirrors and other measures of driving performance showed mixed results.
“The results of our study show that many of the other behaviors that drivers engage in . . . are potentially just as detrimental to driving performance,” said James Sayer, an assistant research scientist at UMTRI.
Further evidence that cell phones and driving don’t mix comes from a recent University of Michigan study. But if you are among the few who don’t “imbibe” in celling on the road, don’t congratulate yourself just yet. Because the UM Transportation Research Institute study found that talking with passengers, eating, drinking and grooming may be just as dangerous for drivers as placing a call.
Drivers who engage in any of the aforementioned activities showed similar decreased levels of driving performance as those using cell phones. All non-driving activities such as eating and talking were associated with more erratic steering behavior. Speed fluctuation, checking side mirrors and other measures of driving performance showed mixed results.
“The results of our study show that many of the other behaviors that drivers engage in . . . are potentially just as detrimental to driving performance,” said James Sayer, an assistant research scientist at UMTRI.
posted by The Carmudgeon at
9:03 PM
1 Comments:
Most motorists would show decreased driving performance if they were just chewing gum. Cell phone use and other distractions only magnify the deficiencies that already exist in a person's driving skills.
I once had a police offer pull me over and try to cite me for talking on my cell phone. He stated that it took my attention away from the road. When I told him how many lane changes he had made without signaling before he had caught up with me and how many times he had sipped his coffee while following me, he realized my attention was never off the road and he let me go with a warning.
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Anonymous, at 8:34 AM
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