DUI/DWI News

Driving While on Cell Phone Worse Than Driving While Drunk

That finding held true whether the driver was holding a cell phone or using a hands-free device, the researchers noted.

"As a society, we have agreed on not tolerating the risk associated with drunk driving," said researcher Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Utah. "This study shows us that somebody who is conversing on a cell phone is exposing him or herself and others to a similar risk -- cell phones actually are a higher risk," he said.

His team's report appears in the summer issue of the journal Human Factors.

In the study, 40 people followed a pace car along a prescribed course, using a driving simulator. Some people drove while talking on a cell phone, others navigated while drunk (meaning their blood-alcohol limit matched the legal limit of 0.08 percent), and others drove with no such distractions or impairments.

"We found an increased accident rate when people were conversing on the cell phone," Drews said. Drivers on cell phones were 5.36 times more likely to get in an accident than non-distracted drivers, the researchers found.

The phone users fared even worse than the inebriated, the Utah team found. There were three accidents among those talking on cell phones -- all of them involving a rear-ending of the pace car. In contrast, there were no accidents recorded among participants who were drunk, or the sober, cell-phone-free group.

The bottom line: Cell-phone use was linked to "a significant increase in the accident rate," Drews said.

He said there was a difference between the behaviors of drunk drivers and those who were talking on the phone. Drunk drivers tended to be aggressive, while those talking on the phone were more sluggish, Drews said.

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	Did You Know?
	A well known is the fact that the consumption of alcohol can cause impairment Perhaps less recognized is that fact that impairment rises gradually at a lower level but dramatically at a higher level of blood alcohol concentration BAC. About half of auto fatalities involve drivers with BACs of .16 or higher. Impairment occurs at a lower level, but it's especially important to prevent driving with high BACs.