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Is using a cell phone while driving bad for your health?
by amombi florence wp adminA couple of weeks ago, Risk Bites explored some of the dangers associated with that icon of the twenty-first-century living: the cell phone.
Can these ubiquitous devices be bad for your health?
The good news is that according to experts the outlook is a pretty good if you worried about your phone causing cancer.
The bad news, though, is that they are potentially dangerous if used inappropriately while driving.
The problem is distraction.
Distracted driving occurs when something pulls the driver's attention away from what they are presumably supposed to be doing. It may be a conversation with passenger, or ogling some passer-by or fiddling with your cell phone.
Researchers in one study found that, in a driving simulation, cell phone users were more prone to rear-end collisions and unresponsive driving than subjects who had had a few drinks. Of course, driving in a simulation isn't the same as driving on a real road, and you could always put your cell phone down, whereas you can't sober yourself up on demand.
But there is growing evidence that things that vie for our attention while driving impact on our ability to drive safely.
What about drivers who use Bluetooth or "hands-free" devices, though?
Several simulator studies have reported that drivers using hands-free devices are no better off than those with a phone held to their ear.
In fact, the hands-free crowd often seems to drive faster in simulators, and shows slower reaction times.
Researchers think that using cell phones hands-free makes drivers believe that they are less distracted and they actually are. But this is in simulators.
On the road, things get a little bit more complicated.
Research on drivers in real cars driving on real roads suggests that the additional risk associated with talking on a cell phone - whether handheld or hands-free is quite low.
On the other hand, texting or anything that takes your eyes of the road for around two seconds or more. Has a dramatic impact on additional risk. One study on drivers on real roads found texting while driving increased the risk of a serious incident by over twenty times.
The bottom line is that cell phones can be bad for you if you let him get in the way of what you're supposed to be doing - especially if that thing is already potentially dangerous.
So please, keep your eyes - and attention - on the road, and no your phone. And stay safe.
Footnote: Purchase MUTCD compliant roll-up signs to warn drivers of planned and emergency road work. Roll up sign options in both orange and pink are available at Safety Products Inc.
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About amombi florence 
wp admin
9 connections, 0 recommendations, 36 honor points.Joined APSense since, February 13th, 2018, From New York, United States.
Created on May 28th 2018 01:19. Viewed 678 times.
