Hands-free, Brain-free
Excellent article in the Herald today on the dangers of cell-phone use in your car, even when using a hands free device. The article is well researched and argued. National has proposed that the use of cell phones in cars should be banned, but wish to exempt hands-free kits. As the authors of the article point out:
“At first sight, an exemption for hands-free phones also appears to make good sense. Surely using hands-free is no more dangerous than talking to someone in the passenger seat? A substantial body of research now supports the surprising conclusion that using a hands-free phone while driving is no safer than using hand-held.”
Very recent research suggests that the surprising, unintuitive result of a hands-free kit being no safer than a hand-held phone is due to the phenomenon of conversation suppression. Although one would have thought that a conversation with a passenger would be no more distracting than a conversation on a cell phone, this turns out not to be true. A passenger apparently modifies the conversation speed in accordance with approaching hazards, suppressing conversation at sticky moments. This does not happen in either type of cell-phone conversation, and it it this distraction at the very worse moment that is responsible for cell phone use being nearly as dangerous as drink drinking in terms of incapacity.
Much as I hate the thought of suggesting that National ban something outright, cell phone use is demonstrably very dangerous and should be banned.
And, yes, small children are just as distracting and dangerous, but I suspect we’d have a hard time banning them
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Mar 25 09 10:23 pm
I have to confess once I was driving in the UK and tried using my computer at the same time to access maps and music….. I have to say that moving a laptop mouse around must be one of the most distracting/hardest things to do when driving (even harder than texting) fortunately no accidents occurred – I put my stupidity down to jet lag and fatigue…. My brain was well and truly in neutral.
Mar 26 09 9:03 am
My bush psychology theory is that we listen with our eyes as well as ears. So when you are talking on the phone, you tend to need to concentrate more on what people are saying because you don’t have any non-verbal communication cues to add the dialogue.
Now, Stef, you don’t actually look at your passenger while your talking and driving, do you?
Mar 26 09 10:02 am
Cellphone use is banned in Ireland, but hands-free kits are fine. The cellphone companies do a roaring trade in hands-free kits, but the road toll is still very high.
Some supporters of similar laws here like to point out that even Telecom and Vodafone support the move – of course they do, they stand to make screeds of money out of it.
A complete ban of cellphones in all circumstances is unlikely to happen. Lobbying by the cellphone industry and civil rights groups will ensure that. Therefore I would much prefer no ban was put in place, because once you say hands-free kits are ok, despite the research, people will be more likely to use cellphones in their cars. This could increase the number of accidents.
So it is far better, in my mind, to leave the laws as they are and publicise the risks of cellphone use. Police already have discretion to prosecute for dangerous driving, which can include cellphone use. There is no need for a new law specifically targeting cellphones.
By that argument, we should dispense with the laws for drink driving and just educate people on how dangerous it is. Yeah, right .
Mar 27 09 3:14 am
If one wishes to publicize the risks of cell phones, one needs to add the danger of microwave radiation, which is cumulative in the body. When a cell phone is used in an automobile, a metal container, radiation is increased and everyone in the vehicle is radiated. See the book: “Would you put Your Head into a Microwave Oven? Radiation Hazard” by Dr. Gerald Goldberg. It’s the same radiation. Also, read: “The BioInitiative Report” compiled from 2000 peer-reviewed scientific studies from around the world. Brain tumors are not convenient, and they have increased in children five times in recent years. A wake-up call is needed on this invisible subject to understand the underlying danger.
While there is weak epidemiological evidence that excessive cell phone use might increase your risk of brain tumour, it is hardly of sufficient strength for the “sky is falling” scaremongering of the report you mention. And Goldberg ‘s book consists of anecdotes and the odd discredited, badly executed trial. Hardly earth shaking.
Mar 28 09 8:55 am
MacDocter, we basically have three options:
- Banning all cellphone use (handsfree or otherwise)
- Banning cellphone use but allowing handsfree kits
- No ban
Are you arguing for the first? That isn’t going to happen, seriously. The cellphone companies have too large a vested interest.
The problem with pushing for the first option is that there is then pressure to “compromise” on the second option. But the second completely contradicts the research and could encourage dangerous behaviour.
Only the first and third options are consistent with the research, the “compromise” position does not work.
I disagree. The only option consistent with research is a total ban on cell phones in cars. You don’t allow drunk-driving, why on earth would you allow cell phone use? Your third option is simply to ignore all the research and continue to kill people. Hardly a reasonable one.
Mar 28 09 9:26 pm
“A passenger apparently modifies the conversation speed in accordance with approaching hazards, suppressing conversation at sticky moments.”
Isn’t it more like screeching at them to watch the bloody road and to stop tail gating?
(Rhetorical question of course!)
I actually think that it’s viable to ban cell phone use in cars, you can always pull over and/or ignore the call or text and wait until it’s more convenient to answer it. It can’t really be that people are so attached to the things they must use them at all times. I’m not so worried about brain tumours, it’s more the distraction – if you spend any decent amount of time driving you will see people leaning over in cars to try and reach their phone to clamp it on their ear or slowing down or even weaving as they try and do something with their phone. This can’t be safe when you are driving a vehicle and need to be watching for hazards. There are plenty enough hopeless drivers around even without those distractions, I live in the lower North Island and saw an elderly gent with Tauranga number plates lose the plot the other day and drive the wrong way around a traffic island. I couldn’t believe it.