Study says handsfree phones don't make better drivers

By Kent German on 13 March 2008

Filmed under controlled conditions

An interesting study from earlier this month says that driving with a mobile phone is just as dangerous whether you use a handsfree device or hold the phone in your hand.

The Carnegie Mellon University study found that simply listening, rather than keeping both hands on the steering wheel, is the main distraction to drivers. Neuroscientist Marcel Just tracked 29 volunteers who used a driving simulator while inside an MRI brain scanner. While steering their virtual car along the winding road, some volunteers went were undisturbed while others had to decide whether a statement they heard was true or false.

The study found that volunteers in the latter group hit a guardrail or veered out of their lane more often than those in the former group. Also, the MRI scans found decreased activity in brain areas that are associated with spatial processing and visual information processing. In other words, the brain may have trouble multitasking both activities. "Drivers need to keep not only their hands on the wheel," Just told Science Daily. "They also have to keep their brains on the road."

It's certainly an interesting conclusion, to say the least, mostly because it suggests that handsfree devices and the laws that support them really aren't contributing to safer driving. Just also said that talking on a mobile phone might involve a different level of distraction than talking to another passenger in the car. While the passenger is going to be aware of demands on the driver's attention, the person on the other end of a mobile phone won't know what's going on. Still, it's not known how the two activities compare.

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Topics: car, handsfree, mobile phone, safety

Comments (2)

slepy commented on 17/12/2009 07:54

i need a phone
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canberra_photographer commented on 13/03/2008 16:06

I drive with one hand a lot of the time. I only use two hands in high risk situations (avoiding pedestrians, wet roads or passing a hazard) or at speeds above 90km/h. I find I drive just as smoothly and arguably safely as I do when using both hands. The danger of mobile usage I believe is not holding the phone, but rather being on the phone and the affect it has on ones concentration. Hence, I never use my phone in the car unless its hands free and absolutely crucial.
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