Hands-free’s a fallacy – study
It’s as dangerous as ‘hands-full’ while driving
SO you thought speaking on a hands-free device was safe. Think again! A recent experiment conducted by the Discovery television series, MythBusters, shows that when it comes to improving safety on the road, the use of hands-free devices offer very little, if any, advantage over using your cellphone.
“We have long considered hands-free devices to be better, safer and easier because they allow you to have both hands on the wheel,” head of Dialdirect Warwick ScottRodger said.
“This experiment, places some big question marks behind this well-known ‘fact’.”
The experiment, which pitted a “hands-free” approach against “hands-full”, was conducted with the help of a state-of-the-art driving simulator at Stanford University Automotive Innovation Facility.
Motorists had a relatively simple task: pay attention to GPS instructions and avoid crashing into any other vehicles or pedestrians.
During the experiment, 15 drivers were tested using a cellphone and 15 others were tested using a hands-free device.
Out of the 15 “hands-full” drivers, only one passed, five failed by driving the wrong way and nine crashed. Of the 15 hands-free drivers, one passed, six failed by driving the wrong way and eight crashed.
This means that, statistically, there is no difference in the potential danger of these two approaches. “Some will say the one group of drivers was simply better at multitasking than the other,” Scott-Rodger said.
“We can also argue about the obvious benefits of having both hands on the wheel. Fundamentally, both hand-held and hands-free devices split your attention between having a conversation and driving and endanger the lives of both you and other motorists.”
Here are some tips you may want to follow:
ý Set your phone to divert your calls to voicemail when you are driving;
ý Make and return calls before you leave, or after you’ve arrived at your destination, not on the road;
ý If you have an urgent call to make, take the time to pull over at a safe spot – even if you are running late. As the saying goes: “Better late than never.”;
ý If you can’t drive without reaching for your phone and/or SMSing, then you may be addicted and it’s time for a detox. If you feel disconnected, anxious and experience symptoms of withdrawal from your phone while driving, you need to address the problem;
ý If you are one of those people who think that you can multitask better than anyone else, then you are probably mistaken – research has shown that those who think this are often the worst at it; and
ý Remind yourself that just a second loss of concentration on the road can result in a fatal accident.