Hands-free sets a driving danger, shows study

THE use of hands-free phone sets poses a considerable danger for motorists, according to new research.

A study by the British Transport Research Laboratory concluded that hands-free phone conversations impair a driver’s performance more than other common distractions such as talking to a fellow passenger or using a car’s entertainment system.

The research shows that the reaction time to road signs and other hazard warnings was the slowest among drivers who were engaged in a conversation using a hands-free phone set.

Tests were carried out on 30 experienced drivers along a 17km route using a driving simulator to analyse the effect of hands-free phone conversations and other common distractions.

Although it has faced a number of legal and technical difficulties in Ireland, the Government is drafting legislation which will ban the use of mobile phones when driving, as well as imposing penalty points on motorists found guilty of the offence.

However, it is understood that the legislation will not make it an offence for drivers to use a hands-free set.

All participants in the British research were tested under four conditions: no distractions, holding a hands-free conversation, talking to a passenger and carrying out other in-vehicles tasks such as switching CD tracks or adjusting the climate control system.

The latest report results contradict a widely-used argument that holding a phone conversation is no more difficult or different than talking to passengers while driving.

However, test drivers claimed that holding a hands-free phone call required a greater mental effort than engaging in any of the other tasks.

The findings reveal that driving performance was significantly better when drivers had no distractions compared to when holding conversations.

In particular, it showed that drivers holding a hands-free phone conversation showed a much slower reaction time to the detection of hazards compared to other distractions.

It was also clear that drivers in the hand-free condition spoke slower than when talking to passengers.

Nevertheless, the overall results showed no major differences between the effect of hands-free phone sets and other distractions on driving performance.

“While banning the use of such systems might be viewed impractical because of the extreme difficulty in enforcing compliance, there appears to be a strong case for making the driving public aware of the potential dangers,” said the report’s authors.