With cellphone usage banned while driving, the solution is obviously to switch to hands-free cellphones, right? PROBABLY NOT says a new study by the Insurance Institute that concluded that hands-free cellphones are just as dangerous as those you hold to your ear.
The Insurance Institute study advances that premise beyond the theoretical. Using actual crash statistics, it shows there was no significant difference in the number of accidents in the District, California or New York in the months before and after hands-free laws went into effect.
“Our concern with hand-held bans has been that these laws are encouraging drivers to go hands-free, which is just as risky,” said Jonathan Adkins of the Governors Highway Safety Association. “We need more research and data to determine whether or not hand-held bans should be implemented across the country.”
Do we have to answer the phone in the car? If it’s really important, you could always pull over and talk. Otherwise, you’re really just endangering everyone else on the road needlessly. Just wait till you get to where you’re going to talk. But that’s just my two cents.
Still, there is one definite upside to not using a hands-free cellphone: you won’t look like you’re talking to yourself to drivers who pass by.
In the Washington Post.
