Hands-free phones ‘no safer for drivers’

TALKING on a hands-free telephone while driving could be as distracting as holding a mobile, researchers have warned.

A study showed that drivers using a telephone, even hands-free, focused on an area of the road up to four times smaller than the average motorist, and failed to identify hazards, even when they looked directly at them.

The research, published in the journal Transporta

tion Research, found that road users having conversations which stimulated their visual imagination detected fewer road hazards.

Dr Graham Hole, senior lecturer in psychology at Sussex University, said: “A popular misconception is that using a mobile phone while driving is safe as long as the driver uses a handsfree phone. Our research shows this is not the case. Hands-free can be equally distracting because conversations cause the driver to visually imagine what they’re talking about.

“This visual imagery competes for [brain] resources with what the driver sees in front of them on the road.”

He added: “The use of hand-held phones was made illegal primarily because they interfere with vehicle control; but our study adds to a mounting body of research showing that both hand-held and hands-free phones are dangerously distracting for drivers.”