Hands-free or hand-held, National Safety Council says cellphones shouldn't be used by motorists

The National Safety Council today announced that it no longer believes motorists should be using cellphones while driving -- whether they're hand-held devices or not. The reason: a number of recent studies that the council says shows cellphone conversations dangerously distract motorists.

"We think the science and research is clear," said Janet Froetscher, the president and chief executive of the council. "There are times when you say that the data is so compelling that we have to do something about it."

The big question, of course, is what the council is prepared to do about it. Several states, including California, have recently adopted hands-free laws, and it seems unlikely at this point that lawmakers will rip those up and make them tougher.

Froetscher said that the council will lobby states for tougher laws. In particular, she said the council will also talk with businesses about getting employees to stop driving while on duty.

-- Steve Hymon

Comments

[Kevin Jordan]

This is Asinine. I'm not going to stop talking on my cell phone.

[Edna Hollingsworth]

I've been nearly missed a couple of times when someone else was making a turn and talking on their cell. I know everyone thinks they need to do it but it is distracting. Of course driving after an argument isn't safe, but I don't do that either. Cells should be used at the lonely coffee break, talking long distance to old friends, and for emergencies.

[Ben]

No more nanny rules. Safety freaks need to shut up once in a while.

[Ted]

California does not care about ripping up current laws. The current law was put into place so the greedy cell phone companies could make more money selling blue tooth devices, has NOTHING to do with our safety. I actually have had about 10 times more close calls on the road trying to get my darn blue tooth device to sync up with my cell phone than just talking without it.

The MAIN reason this wont get passed is because if we arent allowed to talk in the car that means we arent racking up the minutes, which of course the cell companies make money on. PERIOD. NO OTHER REASON.

[Mike S.]

Isn't a hands-free cell call similar to speaking to a passenger in the car?

[Amy]

I agree that it is the conversation itself that serves as a distraction, but such a thing cannot realistically be banned. A driver can just as easily be distracted by conversing with a companion inside the car, but we're certainly not going to see a law mandating silence or solo driving.

[hpbromine]

So reserach has once again echoed common sense: that doing something other than devoting your full attention to driving while behind the wheel can cause accidents, injury and death. Like, duh! We should be insulted at the suggestion that our legislators find an avoidable threat to our safety to be unworthy of their consideration. No one owes it to any other person to assume exposure to an increased risk of injury or death while driving, just for the sake of any other person's convenience. It's just that simple. Those who feel their need to be on a cell phone while driving trumps the safety of other drivers need be reminded that while they have the right to commit suicide, they have no right to injure or kill others for their convenience. One would expect reasonable people to understand that, but other comments make it clear that we are not all reasonable people.

[Candice]

Sometimes I wish people in the car wouldn't talk to me while I'm driving! A law would be a lot nicer way of telling them to be quiet.

[JohnRJ08]

Hands-free was an expensive joke pulled on Californians. Whether you're holding a cellphone to your ear, or talking to the air, your full attention is still not on driving. The routine argument against this is that drivers have conversations with passengers all the time and you can't ban that. The difference, of course, is that you're not visualizing the person you're talking to when they're seated right next to you, and you also have an extra set of eyes in the car to backseat-drive if necessary. Passengers do tend to look out for their own survival. The biggest reason that the hands-free law is a joke is that it is totally unenforceable. Cellphones are smaller than most people's hands. How can law enforcement spot them in a darkened car that is driving past them? Not possible. If people need to talk on the phone that badly, then they need to pull over, park and then dial. The problem is, now that so many people have BlueTooths installed in their cars, how would you enforce a total ban on phone calls in a moving vehicle?

[Bob in Los Angeles]

the studies have shown, since before 2008, that talking on a cell phone is not the same as talking to a passenger. Here's blog that describes the study and provides a link to the study:

http://talkingbrains.blogspot.com/2008/07/driving-while-using-hands-free-cell.html

In part, it says:

... (car) passengers adjust their conversation as a function of driving difficulty, and many actually help out in some situations. After all, passengers have a stake in the performance of the driver as well. But the person on the other end of a cell phone conversation has no idea when break lights suddenly flash, or a ball rolls into the road, and therefore merrily chatters on.

The studies have also shown that the brain "hears" and processes information heard on the phone differently than if the passenger were in the car.

My personal example: Have you ever talked on a cell phone while driving and suddenly found yourself at your destination without any memory of the trip? Does this happen while taliking to a pasenger in the car?

[Paula]

Conversation with a person in the car is different than one on a cell phone. There are external cues that one can pick up on in a conversation with a person in the car that is not possible with a cell phone conversation.

Studies have shown that the brain cannot handle the act of driving while on a cell phone conversation (it spends too much time paying attention to the phone conversation and attention is diverted from paying attention to driving cues) and it is just as dangerous as drunk driving.

[Quick]

Cell phones shouldn't be banned from cars. But if you are found breaking the rules or causing an accident and you've been using a cell phone at the time, your fine/prison term should double.

[Bronwyn K]

Actually, Mike S & Amy, recent U.S. research has demonstrated that drivers talking on a hands-free are far more distracted, and are worse drivers, than motorists talking to a passenger who is in the car. And it turns out there are a number of reasons why this is so.
Oh, Kevin J - no need to stop talking on your cell phone. Just don't drive while you do it.
Ben - I guess anyone who doesn't want to be run over by an idiot attempting to cell-phone and drive simultaneously, is in your opinion a 'safety freak'. Perhaps we should get rid of all laws preventing people from killing one another, just so you don't have to worry about pesky 'nanny rules'. And then if I run over you with my car, we can both be satisfied.

[Michelle]

It's true, talking on a cell phone is still "dangerously" distracting, just as "dangerously" distracting as having a conversation with a friend right next to you, or a mother keeping her children behaving, or even just observing the surroundings as you drive. Yet there are even more crazy things that happen on the road. I think just about everyone's seen someone shaving, or reading a newspaper, or (my personal worst) breast-feeding a baby on their morning commute to work. What would be next, new car inventions that puts the driver their own little box to concentrate simply on driving?

[bob]

I hope that everyone who is for allowing people to talk on cell phones while driving get run over by someone talking on a cell phone.

[Susan]

"WAA WAA WAA, I want to talk whenever I want!" Do us a favor: Grow up, hang up and drive. Or pull over to talk. And change your diaper while you're at it.

[Tom Murray]

This is ridiculous! Is the National Safety Council going to make it illegal to talk to the passengers in the car, too?

When I was living in LA I had to use a headset because I drove a stick. As long as a driver is not staring at a keypad this is perfectly safe.

What the idiots at the NSC should better study is the number of accidents caused when the driver has to divert his eyes to the radio when he wants to change a station. (With the old analogue knobby radios you could do this by ear.)

I'd bet the farm that the new "improved" digital radios have killed more people in LA than all the cellphones in the US.

What a bunch of idiots!

Miffed in Louisville.

[Chris Stune]

We all lived for years without cell phones. Why are they a necessity now? As for the difference between a passenger talking to the driver and the driver talking on the cell phone, studies have shown there is a huge difference... When the passenger sees a hazard they are likely to point it out, they also are likely to stop talking when driving conditions get worse.

You may think that you are a great driver talking on a cell phone but what about the person who is not, runs the red lite, broadsides your car and kills you. Lets all take a step back and focus on driving. The life you save might be your own.

[Daniel]

Enough! You cannot legislate every aspect of life into 100% safety compliance. With hands free devices, its now also impossible to enforce a zero tolerance cell phone law, a microphone can be easily hidden and the car's speakers can be used to transmit sound, how is a law enforcement officer going to tell you are on the phone?

I have 6 hour drives to San Francisco and doing business along the way is essential, and no law is going to stop me from doing it. Safety freaks can quiet themselves, this is one place they will never get 100% compliance. I will use a cell phone in the car regardless of whether it is made illegal or not, so why bother attempting to illegalize something you cannot control or enforce?

D

[Allen]

Talking to someone on a cell phone is not the same as talking to another passenger in the vehicle. That's because the driver does not have to devote the same attention when speaking to other passengers in the vehicle as they do to someone on the phone, who is not in the vehicle and is unaware of what is taking place on the road.

As for people (like poster Kevin Jordan) who think it's asinine to try and restrict cell phone usage while driving, I guess you're one of the few who has not yet been involved in a near-miss accident with a driver who plowed through a stop sign or a red light because they were too engrossed in their cell conversation to pay attention to the road. I'm willing to bet that one accident like that will have you singing a different tune.

[Nathan]

I've stopped using the cell phone altogether in the car. It is surprising how, even with a 25 mile commute and LA traffic, I seem to be able to continue leading a productive life without having conversations while driving. And as much as I would have hated to admit it before, I am a safer, more attentive driver as a result.

Even with the hands-free law we have in California, which is not unreasonable or draconian at all, scofflaws continue to use their hand held phones while on the freeway going 65+ mph. It is even more dangerous on surface streets because traffic does not generally flow as smoothly and there is more going on that requires a driver's attention (multiple intersections, parking cars, pedestrians, bicycles, etc.)

The arrogance and self-absorption that predicates this kind of behavior is remarkable. First, there is the simple lack of willingness to change a habit that is dangerous by any reasonable measure. This unwillingness is accompanied by rationalizing the behavior and, if that fails, there is always complete defiance. Second, is the individual's sense that his/her conversation and his/her business or personal life is more important than the concerns of others, for example, others' safety. In slower traffic, cell phone drivers frequently disrupt the flow because of their divided attention and impaired manual responses.

The behavior reflects the same backwards, outdated thinking that made Americans so reluctant to adopt safety belts, with the key distinction being that cell phones drivers who won't hang up are a danger not only to themselves, but to other drivers.

[Mick]

We could dramatically reduce accidents by raising the driving age to 25, .00 BAC level and all kinds of measures. At some point we must draw the line for our liberties.

[Steve]

" I actually have had about 10 times more close calls on the road trying to get my darn blue tooth device to sync up with my cell phone than just talking without it. "

Ted: That's the point. So you've had at least one close call with the normal cell, and at least 10 while syncing your Bluetooth. Talking on Bluetooth is one thing, but syncing your Bluetooth while driving, well that'slike making a sandwich in your car. Please don't drive in LA, it sounds like you aren't safe in any capacity.

[Gary Kavanagh]

The studies that have been released recently suggest that talking to a passenger in the car is less likely to cause accidents then phone conversations, and Tom Vanderbilt's book Traffic points out that drivers typically behave safer with a passenger on board then when only their own safety is in their hands. Due to the highly life and death matter of driving, it is a privilege and not a right, and if a person wants to talk on the phone they should find some other time to do it or take public transit.

[Ken]

Mike S: I agree, though there is something different about talking on the phone vs. an in-person conversation. Personally I've noticed that when I'm on the phone I am less aware of my surroundings than when it's in-person, as though my mind is working harder to conjure up an image of the person I'm talking to, where s/he is located, etc. Also, in-person conversations tend to ebb and flow with what is going on nearby... e.g., your passenger sees brake lights ahead and instinctively pauses to assess the situation, which causes you as driver to do the same (whereas someone on the phone just keeps talking and thus distracting you from the more immediate concern). It would be interesting to see experimental data comparing reaction times and awareness when talking on the phone vs. having similar conversations in person.

[Roger Pariseau]

I use an in-ear bluetooth device that automatically connects when I open its microphone. No sweat -- always works. Insofar as chatting while driving is concerned, using the phone is less distractive than taking to one's passengers. With live persons we tend to look at them at times. With the bluetooth we can keep our eyes on the road. Wonder if those reported accidents due to bluetooth also had the driver reading from a paper or trying to write notes?

[Gary]

I agree with Ben... attempting to get your bluetooth sync with any phone is 10x worse than simply answering the phone. Yes, in an ideal world, we would have our bluetooth sync'd before we get in the car... but, this isn't an ideal world.

Not to mention the fact that bluetooth technology is poor at best... Britain is kicking our butts on cell phone while driving legislation... we could learn a thing or two from them on this issue.

[SomerandomJoe]

1) Hands-free is a joke. Trying to get the stupid Bluetooth thing to work is more distracting than just having a simple argument.

2) Apparently, the CHP around here (Corona/Riverside area) must think it's a joke as well, because I've had two CHP units cross directly in front of me in the last week with officers talking on hand-held phones. The first one was while in the midst of the "better get off the phone" panic while I put mine down.

They must have some special ninja-style training that makes their brains work more efficiently than ours.

[Krokay]

The simple solution is for the cell companies to make the phone inoperable when the GPS technology embedded in the phone detects the phone moving at more that 10 mph. It could be determined by states, an optional "safe driver" credit on insurance, a penalty, for teen drivers only...the options are endless and the technology is there. Hopefully one of the cell companies will be brave enough to step up and make it happen!

[Lee Davis]

Bob in LA, that is a good link. We have been using http://mycellphoneiskillingme.com at work to try to convince certain drivers (3 mainly!) to stay off the phone. I will give the boss your link also.