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By Science News
Driven to distraction
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Nathan Seppa outlined research on the hazards of distracted driving in “Impactful distraction” (SN: 8/24/13, p. 20).
The story generated a virtual pile-up of reader comments by e-mail, on our website and on social media.George Cowan comments online that the article “should be required reading in every drivers’ ed course.” But a number of readers seemed to have missed one of Seppa’s key points: Research shows that talking on a cell phone even hands-free with a driver’s eyes on the road, takes a mental toll. Bob Davis e-mails, “Do we make it illegal for the driver to talk to the passengers? Should the pilot of an airplane be forbidden to talk to air traffic control or even the copilot?” Seppa replies,“Passenger conversations present a mixed bag. Researchers say that a trivial chat with an adult passenger who is watching the road might not hurt overall performance. But talking to kids in the backseat can pull a driver’s eyes off the road, and an in-depth conversation with an adult who is oblivious to traffic gobbles up a driver’s cognitive resources, a net loss for driving. Teen drivers are six times more likely to brake hard or swerve when there is a loud conversation in the car and are more likely to crash when carrying teen passengers.” Reader Larry Eaton says by e-mail, “It seems to me that there are an infinite number of things people do that cause distracted driving. Why attempt to outlaw just a few? It sends the message that the others are acceptable.”Seppa notes, though, that not all distractions are equal: “Listening to the radio degrades driving skills less than conversation does, researcher David Strayer and his team found recently. Listening to books on tape falls somewhere in between.” On Facebook, @Dio Windmills Alexandersums up feedback from another faction of readers: “Who does such foolishness? Being distracted while operating a lethal weapon? That’s nuts.”