Photo: wikimedia
If you were talking on a telephone while you were driving your car in the 80s, people knew you are loaded, because only luxury cars came with a phone fitted somewhere between the front seats. And the thing was even better if you had one of those first bulky mobile phones at your ear while driving downtown, preferably in a convertible so everyone could see.
In fact, some small companies were selling cheap fake mobile phones for those who wanted to look more imposing than they were. Now however, if you hold a cellphone in your hand while driving, others will say you’re an unmannered peasant putting others lives at risk.
And that’s because traffic now is way more substantial than in the 80s and speaking to a hand-held phone will impair both your ability to handle the car and to assess road situations.
Of course, there are now laws that ban the use of your cellphone while driving without having a hands-free harness, but that seems to be quite ineffective according to a new study.
Recently published in the journal Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, the study analyzing California’s cellphone ban for drivers in 2008 (when it was applied), says that the number of accidents dropped form 66.7 to 65.2 per day.
On the other hand, a study conducted in 2012 by California’s Office of Traffic Safety said that there was in fact a 22 percent drop in traffic accidents deaths in 2008 and 2009, making it harder to conclude over the ban’s effectiveness.
There are multiple theories, such as drivers disregarding the law and still using their hand-held phones, the fact that hands-free devices are still distracting or simply drivers getting distracted by things like the GPS, explaining why the situation haven’t gotten any better.
We think it also depends on each driver’s brain-power. We know people that can get distracted very easy by simply having a chitchat with the passengers, while others can talk at the phone and even smoke or eat, still being able to concentrate on the driving part.
And that’s because traffic now is way more substantial than in the 80s and speaking to a hand-held phone will impair both your ability to handle the car and to assess road situations.
Of course, there are now laws that ban the use of your cellphone while driving without having a hands-free harness, but that seems to be quite ineffective according to a new study.
Recently published in the journal Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, the study analyzing California’s cellphone ban for drivers in 2008 (when it was applied), says that the number of accidents dropped form 66.7 to 65.2 per day.
On the other hand, a study conducted in 2012 by California’s Office of Traffic Safety said that there was in fact a 22 percent drop in traffic accidents deaths in 2008 and 2009, making it harder to conclude over the ban’s effectiveness.
There are multiple theories, such as drivers disregarding the law and still using their hand-held phones, the fact that hands-free devices are still distracting or simply drivers getting distracted by things like the GPS, explaining why the situation haven’t gotten any better.
We think it also depends on each driver’s brain-power. We know people that can get distracted very easy by simply having a chitchat with the passengers, while others can talk at the phone and even smoke or eat, still being able to concentrate on the driving part.
Google News