Cell Phones are More Distracting to Drivers than Passengers

12.02.2008 by KCPW

(KCPW News) According to a new study, drivers are more distracted by talking on a cell phone than talking to a passenger. Professor of psychology at the University of Utah and Co-author of the study, Dave Strayer, says the reason is that passengers are actually in the car and can help drivers.

"There's two sets of eyes in the vehicle when you have a passenger, so not only can they say, hey, watch out for that person there, they are driving crazy, or here is your exit, or can I help remind you, but they also do kind of some other things, they will kind of adjust their conversation, pause talking if driving becomes more difficult. You both see that there is some kind of thing that the driver needs to address, or deal with and so you just put the conversation on pause for a second," Strayer said.

A previous study by Strayer found the distraction isn't caused by the driver holding the phone, so wireless headsets don't solve the problem. He says the cell phone conversation takes you out of the environment.

"When you start talking on a cell phone, usually you are not talking about the physical environment you are in, you are talking about the fact that you need to pick up milk, or someone is telling you some story about what happened in the office or something like that, so its not related to the physical environment you are in. And it may be the case that you actively suppress processing information in the driving scenes, so that you can pay more attention to the conversation," Strayer said.

Strayer's previous studies have also shown that drivers talking on a cell phone are as impaired as drivers with a .08 blood alcohol level, the legal limit in most states.