Hands-free phones ‘just as distracting’ as hand-held devices

New research from psychologists at the University of Sussex has found driving while talking on a hands-free phone can be just as distracting as talking on a hand-held mobile. 
Brake is now renewing its calls for the government to look again at the laws around driving and mobile phone use.  

The study, published in the Transportation Research Journal, shows that drivers who are engaged in conversations that spark their visual imagination are much less able to spot and react to potential hazards.

When the drivers involved in the study were asked about a subject that required them to visualise it, they focussed on a smaller area of the road ahead of them and failed to see hazards, even when they looked directly at them.

The researchers claim their evidence shows conversations may use more of the brain’s visual processing resources than previously understood. Having a conversation which requires a driver to use their visual imagination creates competition for the brain’s processing capacity that is also focussing on driving. This results in drivers missing road hazards that they might otherwise have spotted.

This is the latest study to look at the increased dangers involved with driving and mobile phone use. Previous research has estimated that up to 22% of crashes could be caused by some kind of distraction and drivers who perform a secondary task at the wheel, like using a mobile, are up to three times more likely to crash.
http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/fleet-industry-news/2016/06/08/hands-free-phones-just-as-distracting-as-hand-held-devices-says-brake 

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