Next time you're late for work, blame it on your fellow motor-mouth commuter.
"That SOB on the cell phone is slowing you down and making you late," says University of Utah psychologist Dave Strayer.
Drivers who talk on their cell phones clog highways, according to new research. They drive more slowly, pass sluggish vehicles less often, and take longer to complete their trips. The University of Utah's Traffic Lab published the study today, siding with common sense.
"At the end of the day, the average person's commute is longer because of that person who is on the cell phone right in front of them," says Strayer.
If you talk on the phone, you'll take longer to get to your destination, and slow down everyone else too.
This is not the first study to find driving and gabbing don't mix. Here are some previous disquieting findings by Strayer's research group:
- Hands-free cell phones are no less dangerous while driving than hand-held cell phones because the conversation itself is the major distraction.
- When young adults talk on cell phones while driving, their reaction times become as slow as reaction times for senior citizens.
- Drivers talking on cell phones are as impaired as drivers with the 0.08 percent blood alcohol level that defines drunken driving in most states.
- Drivers on cell phones are 5.36 times more likely to be in an accident.
With mobile subscriptions ballooning at 3.3 billion, the researchers suggest it's time to put the brakes on driving while squawking.
Via PhysOrg.
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