Haven't studies shown that it's not the physical act of interacting with a phone that causes distraction, but rather focusing on conversing with someone not physically present?
"Using a cell phone while driving - whether it's hand-held or hands-free delays a driver's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. (University of Utah)"
Quickly reading though that, it doesn't strike me as convincing.
People drinking to 0.08 drove slower, braked faster (!), had normal reaction times, and got in 0 accidents. Yet the study says they are more aggressive because they followed the car in front of them by 9.5 meters instead of 10.3.
This study doesn't make me think hands-free sets should be illegal, but that the blood alcohol limit level is too low.
I dunno about studies, but for me it's definitely the eyes-not-on-the-road. I'm so thankful I haven't gotten into a crash despite the few times I've been stupid enough to text while driving.
"While many people know texting while driving increases crash risk, the lack of understanding about the risks of phone conversation while driving remains a challenge. Talking on hands-free or handheld cell phones requires the brain to multitask – a process it cannot do safely while driving."
Part of the problem with continuous partial attention, like the problem with alcohol, is that the practitioner/victim loses the ability to judge his/her own performance accurately.
Intuitively I would expect composing a text via voice to be more distraction than holding a conversation: for me, the very act of composing necessitates visualizing the composition.
Perhaps, but I'm less concerned about getting in an accident than I am getting busted by the police for using my hand held while driving (for those of us in such places). This, hopefully, solves that!
