reddit

“A new study (PDF) in the Journal of Experimental Psychology suggests that - gasp! - talking on a cell phone while driving might actually be dangerous. Sure, the conclusion is kind of a no-brainer, but the heart of the experiment was to figure out if there’s any difference between chatting with someone on a hands-free phone and chatting with a passenger in the car with you. After all, it seems like the mechanics are basically the same… Wrong! According to the study (which used 41 drivers), talking on the phone made a significant impact on driving, causing them to drift lanes, miss exits, and just generally drive like the jerks that make you yell “GET OFF THE FREAKING PHONE!” to people in front of you in traffic–even without having a phone in their hands. Meanwhile, talking to a passenger in the car had little or no impact.” source...