Driving while talking on a cell phone is just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated… would be BUSTED if the tests were done correctly.
The common (faulty) procedure for this test is to 1. drive on a course as a control, 2. drive on the course while talking on a cell phone while being asked complicated questions, 3. drive on the course while intoxicated. The results for test 2 and 3 are usually similar.
There are three (3) missing tests. 1. Driving the course while having a normal relaxed conversation on the cell phone. 2. Driving the course while having a normal relaxed conversation with a passenger (not on a cell phone). 3. Driving the course while being asked the same complicated questions by a passenger (not on a cell phone). 4. One more test that should be run is driving the course while holding a cell phone to your ear with no conversation just to confirm that holding the phone is not the problem.
You’ll find that driving with a normal conversation on a phone or with a passenger is similar to the first control test. And driving with the intense questions from a passenger will be similar to driving with the intense questions over the phone. The conversation, not the device causes the distraction.
Also, one major difference is that a phone can be put down if a challenging driving situation arises, the intoxication can’t be turned off at will. If the tests are all run letting the driver decide when to talk and when to concentrate on driving (like in real life) there will be even more contrast between the test drives and driving intoxicated.
The “incomplete” driving with cell phone test is what is BUSTED!
“An engineer explained to us that hundreds of ear impressions were gathered in the name of research, and while each one obviously boasted its own unique shape and size, one single characteristic remained uniform across the board: the entrance into the ear canal is not a perfect circle, it's an oval.”
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Driving while talking on a cell phone is just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated… would be BUSTED if the tests were done correctly.
The common (faulty) procedure for this test is to 1. drive on a course as a control, 2. drive on the course while talking on a cell phone while being asked complicated questions, 3. drive on the course while intoxicated. The results for test 2 and 3 are usually similar.
There are three (3) missing tests. 1. Driving the course while having a normal relaxed conversation on the cell phone. 2. Driving the course while having a normal relaxed conversation with a passenger (not on a cell phone). 3. Driving the course while being asked the same complicated questions by a passenger (not on a cell phone). 4. One more test that should be run is driving the course while holding a cell phone to your ear with no conversation just to confirm that holding the phone is not the problem.
You’ll find that driving with a normal conversation on a phone or with a passenger is similar to the first control test. And driving with the intense questions from a passenger will be similar to driving with the intense questions over the phone. The conversation, not the device causes the distraction.
Also, one major difference is that a phone can be put down if a challenging driving situation arises, the intoxication can’t be turned off at will. If the tests are all run letting the driver decide when to talk and when to concentrate on driving (like in real life) there will be even more contrast between the test drives and driving intoxicated.
The “incomplete” driving with cell phone test is what is BUSTED!