Even hands-free ups risks when driving
SPEAKING on a hands-free cellphone in a car makes drivers take almost twice as long to react to hazards, scientists have found.
They said motorists took a 10th of a second longer to see potential dangers on the road.
Hands-free conversations are thought to be safer than using a hand-held phone.
Worryingly, though, reaction times are affected equally badly whether the driver is on a hands-free or a hand-held phone – or even simply chatting to a passenger.
Such distractions increase reaction times to a quarter of a second – creating a delay equivalent to a car speeding along at 100km/h taking almost 3m more to stop.
The US study from the University of Iowa backs up previous research that speaking on a cellphone is almost as dangerous as drink-driving. Co-author Shaun Vecera, professor of psychological and brain sciences, said: “It slows your attention down – and we’re just not aware of it because it happens so fast. It is going to delay your ability to react by braking. That can be the difference between stopping safely and rear-ending someone.”
It was known that drivers on cellphones often veered into the wrong lane, failed to check their rear view mirror and speedometer and remembered less of their journey.
It was known that motorists using a cellphone were four times more likely to crash. Hands-free calls are safer because both hands are on the wheel – but they are just as distracting, causing what scientists call “attention disengagement”.
The US researchers used computerised experiments to track eye movements while asking 26 volunteers to choose whether a series of statements were true or false.
The test was designed to mimic the “active listening” required to take in information and simultaneously prepare a reply during a conversation while driving a car.
Answered
Those who answered questions took almost twice as long to look at a new object on a screen as those not asked anything.
The average delay was 40 milliseconds, but because a driver’s eyes scan their field of view 2.5 times a second, it takes a 10th of a second extra to see everything. The reactions of the worst participants were three times as long.
The study, in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, said: “It becomes so effortful, while holding a conversation, to move your attention and eyes you reduce the amount you do it.
Drivers on the phone have a kind of tunnel vision in which they are looking out of the windscreen but not moving their eyes around as much.” – Daily Mail S SHE walked along a New York City street on an October night seven years ago, Katie Kozlowski was so upset that her boyfriend had stood her up that she didn’t even notice the taxicab before it hit her head-on and threw her across the road.
She was able, amazingly, to pick herself up from the gravel, deeply startled but unharmed. The accident prompted Kozlowski to reflect on her life. After suffering a string of abusive relationships and bouts of heavy drinking and depression, she knew something had to change.
“I wanted to go somewhere so I could figure out how to stop having all of these negative experiences,” she said.
Not long after, she packed her bags and boarded a plane to gather with over 200 people on a week-long spiritual retreat in the heart of Ireland.
While there, Kozlowski learned to meditate and listen to herself, experiencing moments of awe and transcendence. She loved the feeling of deep calm and inner peace the group meditations gave her.
“It brings awareness to what goes on inside your subconscious mind,” she said.
She has since attended the retreat three more times. “Every single time that I would leave, I would have a better understanding and more acceptance of myself.”
As people report feeling more stressed and interest in mindfulness meditation, adult colouring and other calming techniques grows, more people are turning to spiritual retreats as a way to unplug and reset.
In the last few years, revenue for “wellness tourism” in the US, which includes meditation and other spiritual retreats, increased by 14% from $494.1 billion in 2013 to $563.2bn in 2015, a growth rate more than twice as fast as overall tourism expenditures, according to the Global Wellness Institute. Christian retreats are also reporting renewed interest.
In a recent study published in the journal Religion, Brain & Behaviour, scientists from The Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University have discovered that there are actual changes that take place in the brains of retreat participants.
The findings, although preliminary, suggest that engaging in a spiritual retreat can have a shortterm impact on the brain’s “feel good” dopamine and serotonin function – two of the neurotransmitters associated with positive emotions.
Researchers studied the effects of attending a weeklong retreat involving silent contemplation and prayer based on the Jesuit teachings of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. They scanned the brains of 14 Christians in the study, ranging in ages from 24 to 76 years old, before and after the retreat.
The study subjects showed marked improvements in their perceived physical health, tension and fatigue, as well as reporting feelings of selftranscendence.
Though more research is needed, the co-authors highlighted the strong emotional responses that have long been associated with secular and religious retreats such as “reduced stress, spiritual transformation experiences, and the capacity to produce life-changing results.”
Not everyone is able to access or afford to attend a spiritual retreat, but a growing body of research has found that a daily practice of mindfulness meditation at home can also help reduce anxiety and bolster good health.
Psychologist Anjhula Mya Singh Bais experienced the benefits of meditating during a 10-day Buddhist retreat last year. “My body started regulating itself… I could feel the stress and cortisol melt away.”
Prior to her trip, Bais had been struggling with many personal relationships and was unsure of how to move forward. By the end, she said she felt more in control of her thoughts.
“After the retreat, one becomes simultaneously calm and exhilarated. I was in a better position of not only enhancing my own life but (also) serving others.”
Some people who attend retreats return hungry to share what they’ve learnt. Kozlowski is now a mindfulness teacher in Connecticut after her retreat experiences following the accident.
A lifelong nail-biter who hid her habit by applying fake nails while secretly still chewing her own, she knew something profound had taken place when, after her second time at the retreat, she had stopped nail-biting. She noticed that the fears and negative beliefs she had about herself began to dissolve.
“I used to be what people call very prickly, meaning I didn’t take criticism very well.”
Now, seven years after that fateful night with the taxi, Kozlowski said her life has been transformed.
“I no longer have relationships with men who are verbally abusive – I don’t go out drinking in bars until I’m in a stupor,” she said.
“All of those sorts of behaviours, I would never do that now because I actually like myself.” – The Washington Post