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Ed Yeates ReportingMotorists using cell phones may be just as impaired as someone driving intoxicated. The University of Utah study, presented at a conference three years ago, has had even more scrutiny now.
Absorption on a cell phone that leads to a crash in the movie "Hanging Up," may be closer to reality than we think.
Dr. Frank Drews, University of Utah Research Psychologist: "There was a huge delay or increase in reaction time when we looked at people who were conversing on the cell phone."
Yours truly had a taste of multitasking behind the wheel of this University of Utah simulator three years ago, when Drs. David Strayer and Frank Drews were testing student volunteers. The data now appears even more sobering.
And it doesn't matter whether you have the phone to your ear or if you're talking hands-free. The risk of a collision or causing one is very similar to someone who's been drinking.
The only difference is driving style. Intoxicated drivers are aggressive while cell phone users are sluggish.
Some examples: people on cell phones tend tend to delay their reaction at a stoplight when it changes green. And then out on the open road, it's speed up, slow down, speed up slow down.
If a driver in front of a cell phone user suddenly brakes, the cellular driver reacts slowly.
Dr. Drews: "It will take them much longer to deaccelerate and they're more likely, as we show based on the accident data in our study, to hit this other vehicle than any other driver."
A government study now estimates at any given moment, eight percent of all drivers are on cell phones.
The cell phone industry disagrees with the Utah study, suggesting the actual rate of reported accidents doesn't support the findings.
