This makes complete sense to me. I can't believe the bad driving I've seen from people talking on cell phones, even wearing headsets. I keep hoping to witness someone hitting a bump in the road and having their stupid little phone fly out the window. : )
Erin -----Original Message----- From: Larry Lyons [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, November 26, 2001 3:10 PM To: CF-Community Subject: Cellphones and Driving Hi all, There's an interesting article in the Washington Post regarding research on cell phones and driving (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14482-2001Nov25.html). I dug around and found my copy of the issue of Psychological Science that had the original research article. In a nutshell researchers found that it doesn't matter whether you are using a hands-free cellphone or not. If you are talking on a cell phone, your reaction time to outside events is very poor. The researchers did not find similar results when the subjects were talking with someone else (as if the other was a passenger for instance) or listening to music. >From what I read in the original article, the tracking task is a relatively easy task, no where near as complex as driving a car. If these researchers found significant decreases in performance (time on task and reacting to the target signal) in something this simple, then driving a car and talking on a cell phone is considerably more dangerous. Here's the summary from the American Psychological Society (source URL after article). -- Driven to Distraction Study Shows Hands-free Cell Phone Use While Driving No Safer Than Hand-held Use Legislation across the United States seeks to restrict the use of hand-held cellular phone use by drivers. The notion is that by taking the phone out of the driver's hand and mandating the use of a hands-free device, fewer accidents will result. Results of a study, published in the American Psychological Society journal Psychological Science, contradict that way of thinking, saying it isn't the phone that is problematic, but the actual conversation that impairs drivers. Researchers David L. Strayer and William A Johnston of the University of Utah found that cellular phone use, either with hand-held or hands-free phones, disrupts performance by diverting attention to an engaging cognitive context other than the one immediately associated with driving. "Our data imply that legislative initiatives that restrict hand-held devices but permit hands-free devices are not likely to reduce interference from the phone conversation, because the interference is, in this case, due to the central attentional processes," the authors wrote. In the study, participants performed a tracking task using a joystick to maneuver a cursor on a computer display to keep it closely aligned to a moving target. At unpredicted intervals, the target flashed red or green and participants were instructed to press a "brake button" located at the top of the joystick as rapidly as possible when they detected a red light. The participants were randomly assigned to three task groups: radio control, hand-held phone, and hands-free phone. After becoming acquainted with the pursuit-tracking task, participants engaged in conversation with a confederate (or listened to a radio station of their choosing) while conducting the tracking task. The results of the study show that participants engaged in cell-phone conversations missed twice as many simulated traffic signals as when they were not talking on the cell phone and took longer to react to the signals that they did detect. These results were the same for hand-held and hands-free "These data are consistent with an attention-based interpretation in which the disruptive effects of cell-phone conversations on driving are due primarily to the diversion of attention from driving to the phone conversation itself," Strayer and Johnston wrote. This and other articles from Psychological Science are available online at the APS Media Center at www.psychologicalscience.org. For additional information on this article, please contact Strayer ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) or APS at the phone or email indicated above. Psychological Science ranked sixth out of 107 psychology journals for impact on the field by the Institute for Scientific Information. The American Psychological Society represents scientific psychology, promoting the "giving away" of psychology in the public interest. http://www.psychologicalscience.org/media/pr011026.html -- regards, larry -- Larry C. Lyons ColdFusion/Web Developer EBStor.com 8870 Rixlew Lane, Suite 204 Manassas, Virginia 20109-3795 tel: (703) 393-7930 fax: (703) 393-2659 Web: http://www.ebstor.com http://www.pacel.com email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chaos, panic, and disorder - my work here is done. -- -- Larry C. Lyons ColdFusion/Web Developer EBStor.com 8870 Rixlew Lane, Suite 204 Manassas, Virginia 20109-3795 tel: (703) 393-7930 fax: (703) 393-2659 Web: http://www.ebstor.com http://www.pacel.com email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chaos, panic, and disorder - my work here is done. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your ad could be here. Monies from ads go to support these lists and provide more resources for the community. http://www.fusionauthority.com/ads.cfm Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
