Joseph Hall wrote: > On 8/22/07, Kenneth Burgener <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> I know when I am talking on a cell phone I am more distracted then if I >> were not. I think it would be very hard to dispute that. > > See, that's what I'm getting at. I could be wrong, but I like to think > that my driving is the same whether I'm talking to the person in the > seat next to me or if I'm talking on a hands-free set (I refuse to > talk on the drive and talk on the phone without the hands-free set). I > certainly don't feel any more distracted. I suppose anyone that's > driven with me in both situations would be able to tell me better.
During normal driving I could agree with you. I think the problem comes when there is an emergency. If you had to do an emergency stop, or swerve out of the way of something, or some other abrupt movement, and person in the car talking with you would instinctively shut their mouth, thereby freeing your mind to focus on the situation at hand. The person on the phone will not have the same immediate reaction, and you will likely have to focus some attention to tell the person to shut their mouths for a few moments, or take the mental time to ignore their incoming comments. I am sure you could argue that you are of a strong enough mind to block out the conversation immediately, but I tend to think that most people have, at minimum, a slight difficulty in detaching themselves from a engaging conversation. /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
