Mobile phone users should drive faster says prof

Drivers go slow when on a call

People who use mobile phones while driving are spoiling it for the rest of us – by driving more carefully and slowing down traffic, according to US researchers.

A study from the University of Utah reports that drivers speaking on a hands-free mobile drive, on average, two mph slower than those not engaged in conversation – adding a possible 20 hours of driving to the annual commute.

The study comes from David Strayer, professor of psychology at the University of Utah, and deserves slightly more examination before conclusions are leapt to. The good professor got students to sit in a simulator and drive the same journey twice, once while on the phone. When engaged in conversation drivers apparently drove less aggressively, changing lanes around 20 per cent less often, and it is their failure to take advantage of the faster-moving lane that caused their slow progress.

Full article: theregister.co.uk