Why Do Cell Phone Conversations Interfere with Driving?
According to a report released by the University of Utah, when 18- to 25-year-olds were placed in a driving simulator and talked on a cellular phone, they reacted to brake lights from a car in front of them at a rate equal to that of 65- to 74-year-olds who were not using a cell phone. The study found that drivers who talked on cell phones–regardless of whether they were young or old–were 18 percent slower in hitting their brakes than drivers who didn’t use cell phones. The drivers chatting on cell phones also had a 12 percent greater following distance–an effort to compensate for paying less attention to road conditions–and took 17 percent longer to regain the speed they lost when they braked.
