Do not reach out for that cell phone while you are driving, say researchers from the University of Illinois, who found that drivers had great difficulty in maintaining either a fixed speed or keeping their vehicle in a lane while performing a range of tasks simulating the use of cell phones.
The researchers say that contrary to general belief, it is listening rather than speaking on the cell phone that is dangerous. Lead author of the study Tate Kubose, a postdoctoral fellow in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois said that they were surprised to find that both talking and listening had an equally unsettling effect on the driver, "These results challenge the widespread presumption that production is harder than comprehension, and the expectation that talking while driving is necessarily more disruptive than listening," Kubose commented.
The researchers said that the mental task of concentrating on either listening or talking plus the physical task of handling a vehicle are detrimental to the safety of the drivers.
The University of Illinois study checked the skills of 100 students who were asked to drive virtual cars and speak as well as listen on their hands-free cell phones. The simulation required these 'drivers' to tell their exact location in relation to the buildings on the campus as well as verify statements that were made by somebody else. The researchers found that drivers had greater difficulty maintaining a fixed speed as well as sticking to a lane while they indulged in these tasks. Surprisingly, they found that drivers had better lane control when they were speaking, though their speed control was off the mark. The report, which is to be published in the forthcoming edition of Applied Cognitive Psychology, concludes by saying, "Our findings imply that these detrimental consequences may be roughly the same whether drivers are producing speech or comprehending it."
This study just adds to the growing evidence that use of mobile phones in moving vehicles affects the safety of the driver as well as the occupants.
