Do you talk on the phone while you drive?
Do you think that you are a careful driver?
Well, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Board (NHTSA) you about as safe as a drunk driver. Yeah that's right. According to the hundreds of pages of research and warnings that they have kept hidden since 2003 they have come to that conclusion.
If you think that a hands free set is the safe way to go, think again. In a letter to then commissioner Norman Mineta the board stated: "A significant body of research worldwide indicates that both hand-held and hands-free cell phones increase the risk of a crash. Indeed, research has demonstrated that there is little, if any, difference between the use of hand-held phones in contributing to the risk of driving while distracted."
Why do you think that the information was suppressed for 6 years? My guess is that no one in the government has the balls to tell the public to give up their obsession with being in contact every minute of the day. What do you think?
3 comments:
I think if fighter pilots can talk while flying, I can use my bluetooth on the open highway.
I don't know about the hands-free option; that somehow doesn't strike me as any less distracting than yakking with a passenger. I will say conclusively, based upon personal experience, that folks doing anything - driving, shopping, or whatever - with a phone in one hand act like complete morons.
Blade-very few people can become fighter pilots. Kids can drive. I guess you have never set behind a car stopped at a green light or weaving from lane to lane while talking on the cell phone. You are probably right that on the open road it is not that much of a problem but how do you enforce open road use only?
MAX-there is a big difference between talking on a phone and talking to a passenger. A pass. is cognizant of the surrounding situation and can often aid the driver in observation. Someone on the phone has no idea what is going on and is a total distraction. Of course there are many other activities that hinder the ability to pay attention while driving but cell phones are one of the worst.
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