Mobile phones and driving safety

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It has been argued that the distraction caused by using mobile phones while driving is responsible for many road traffic accidents. Several studies have shown that motorists have a much higher risk of collisions and losing control of the vehicle while talking on the mobile telephone simultaneously with driving, even when using "hands-free" systems.

1 Studies
2 Legalities
3 References
4 External link

[edit] Studies

A study carried out by the University of Utah found that driving while using a mobile phone is "at least as dangerous as driving while over the legal alcohol limit". They also found that hands-free devices do not reduce the distraction caused by talking on a mobile phone. ^[1] ^[2]

According to a study published in the British Medical Journal and paid for by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, there was only a slight safety benefit from using a hands-free phone. The study showed that drivers who use cell phones, even hands-free models, are four times as likely to be involved in wrecks involving a serious injury than are drivers who do not use cell phones. ^[3]

One study of 699 Canadian drivers showed a rate of collision four times higher when using a mobile phone than when a mobile phone was not being used. ^[4] A study in The New England Journal of Medicine reports that drivers who used mobile phones while driving were four times more likely to crash than those who don't, a rate equal to that for drunken driving at the 0.01 g/dL blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level. An experiment conducted by the American television show MythBusters concluded that use of mobile phones while driving poses the same risk as someone operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Legalities

Accidents involving a driver being distracted by talking on a mobile phone have begun to be prosecuted as negligence similar to driving while intoxicated.