took a quick lokk at the researchreport and it seems to confirm that hans free and hands held are not that different when it comes to crashes. However, the hand held laws are easier to enforce so politically easier to pass.
I notice that these reports on the dangers of phone use in cars seem to draw on the same few research studies. Something tells me this whole issue is an easy political mark and not related to the reality of multitasking in cars.
After all , they said the same thing abotu car radios back in teh 1930s adn wanted to ban them from cars altogether.
Researchers withheld cell phone risk data
· By: Drivers.com staff
· Date: 2009-07-22
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According to a recent New York Times article, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)Tproposed a study of 10,000 drivers back in 2003 but never carried it out.
As well, says the NYT, hundreds of pages of studies of the dangers of cell phone use by drivers were never released to the public because of "concerns about angering congress."
Apparently, NHTSA wanted to warn states that allowing hands-free use of phones while banning hand-held use would not solve the problem of phone use-related crash risk.
Now the NYT has obtained a copy of the report from consumer advocacy groups and published it on the NYT web site
The study brings back to the forefront some serious questions about the whole issue about multi-tasking while driving and how new laws could affect in-car technologies such as navigation systems, location-based information systems and in-car entertainment systems.
Read more on Drivers.com article Phones and Driving: mystery of the crashes
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Brett, on Friday, 24. July 2009 at 11:38 AM
