Without having to rehash this issue again, research has shown very conclusively that cellphone use, regardless of whether it is being held or a hands free version, has a very negative impact on driving. The same impact is not shown to be the case with makeup etc. The problem is that we deploy our limited attentional resources differentially - we give far more attention to a cell phone conversation than to changing the station or listening to music.
Here's the link to the previous postings: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=results&optionlist=0&forumid=5&Search=cellphone&Author=&After=&Before=&maxrows=100#15869 and to the Washington Post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A14482-2001Nov25¬Found=true 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. http://www.psychologicalscience.org/media/pr011026.html At 01:21 AM 6/5/2003 -0800, Mike Randolph wrote: >Hello Larry, > >We'd now all be safe if they invent hand's free makeup and hand's free turn >signals for Volvo/Mac users. > >Duckin Muffins >Mike > >At 10:12 AM 6/5/2003 +0100, you wrote: > >It's now illegal over here to drive while talking on a mobile/cell phone > > > >Hands free kits are acceptable, but not driving one handed on the phone > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Larry C. Lyons [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2003 10:56 PM > > > To: CF-Community > > > Subject: Feds: Hang up and drive > > > > > > > > > http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/06/04/crash.phones.reut/index.html > > > > > > Wednesday, June 4, 2003 Posted: 10:09 AM EDT (1409 GMT) > > > U.S. urges mobile phone curbs for young drivers > > > > > > WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Young, inexperienced drivers should not be > > > allowed to use cell phones when they get behind the wheel, U.S. > > > traffic safety officials said on Tuesday after reviewing a fatal > > > crash involving a 20-year-old who was on a mobile phone as she lost > > > control of her sport utility vehicle. > > > -- > > > > > > Larry C. Lyons > > > > > > ======================================================== > > > Life is Complex. It has both real and imaginary parts. > > > ======================================================== > > > Chaos, Panic and Disorder. 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