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To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (42531)	7/12/2005 1:19:18 AM
From: Johnny Canuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 68203

Hands-free devices don't aid road safety, study finds By Jeremy W. Peters news.com.com Story last modified Mon Jul 11 22:00:00 PDT 2005 DETROIT--A study of Australian drivers found that those using cell phones were four times as likely to be involved in a serious crash regardless of whether they used hands-free devices like earpieces or speaker phones that have been perceived as making talking while driving safer. The study, which is to appear in The British Medical Journal on Tuesday, is the first of its kind to use actual crash data and cell phone records to show a link between talking on the phone and being seriously injured in an accident. It is also the first to conclude definitively outside of a laboratory setting that holding a phone to the ear or talking through a hands-free device pose the same risks. Because cell phone records are not considered public information, a similar study has not been conducted in the United States. The most up-to-date research by the federal government has relied either on volunteers who were videotaped while driving or on experiments in which a driver was monitored by researchers in a laboratory. For the latest breaking news, visit NYTimes.com Sign up to receive top headlines Get Dealbook, a daily corporate finance email briefing Search the jobs listings at NYTimes.com Search NYTimes.com: Today's NewsPast WeekPast 30 DaysPast 90 DaysPast YearSince 1996 The new study examined the cell phone records of 744 drivers who had accidents in Perth, Australia, where drivers are required to use hands-free devices. Researchers estimated the time of the crash and looked at whether the driver used a cell phone in the minutes leading up to the accident. They then examined similar time intervals in the days before the crash to calculate the increased risk of using the cell phone. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit research group in Virginia, sent researchers to three hospitals in Perth during a two-year period from 2002 to 2004 to interview crash victims. The researchers asked several questions, including whether the driver had a hands-free device in the car and how often the device was used. To avoid having drivers incriminate themselves, the researchers did not ask if a hands-free apparatus was in use at the time of the crash. Rather, they asked drivers how often they used such a device and factored that into determining the devices' effectiveness. "There is no safety advantage associated with switching to the types of hands-free devices that are commonly in use," the study concludes. With several states restricting the use of cell phones in cars, the findings raise questions about how useful those laws are. Currently, New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia require drivers to use a hands-free device. Beginning Oct. 1, Connecticut will also make holding a phone and driving illegal. But as the Australian research and other recent studies show, it is the act of talking, not holding a phone, that is the most distracting. "There just doesn't seem to be any safety benefit by restricting drivers to hands-free phones," said Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. "It's the cognitive overload that sometimes occurs when you're engaging in a conversation that is the source of the distraction more so than the manipulation of the device." Previous Next A spokeswoman for the New York Department of Motor Vehicles said the department was conducting a study of the way cell phones affect driving and would report the findings to the Legislature before the end of the year. That report could include recommendations for additional restrictions on using cell phones while driving, the spokeswoman, Christine Burling, said. The Australian study notes not only that cell phone laws are hard to enforce but that more restrictive measures there appear unlikely. "While a possible solution in the future is to change mobile phones so they cannot be used when vehicles are in motion," the Australian study said, "the likelihood the industry would embrace such a change seems remote." Paul A. Green, a scientist at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, said studies like this could exert influence on lawmakers. "They're most convinced by the tombstone count," he said. Entire contents, Copyright © 2005 The New York Times. All rights reserved.