Regardless of how nice you are, how centered, how peaceful (ah-ommmmmm ….. ah-ommmmmm …), you’ve occasionally been menaced by another member of the human race driving in a scary fashion and noticed this humanoid is in the midst of telephonic communication.
And you’ve thought quietly, gently to yourself — or possibly even murmured in a barely audible fashion:
HEY, BRAIN-DEAD!!!!
Well, it turns out, in a sense, you were right.
An article at Salon.com quotes a professor of psychology at the University of Utah who found that driving while talking on a cellphone is as dangerous as driving drunk, and — guess what? — using a headset is no help.
"The impairments aren't because your hands aren't on the wheel,” says David Strayer. “It's because your mind isn't (on) the road."
The article by Katharine Mieszkowski continues:
“Now neuroscience is showing your mind literally isn't on the road. The overtaxed driver's poor brain doesn't distinguish between a conversation that takes place on an iPhone or a Bluetooth headset. In both cases, the chatting driver is distracted, putting herself, her passengers, other drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians at risk.”
In other words, parts of your brain (the parietal lobe, the visual cortex) that should be paying attention to the fact you’re piloting 3,500 pounds of steel at the speed of a cheetah are not available to the process and, well, might as well be expired — as you, your passengers and people around you might soon be IF YOU DON’T GET OFF THAT PHONE!!!
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/07/25/cell_phone_driving/
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