June 24, 2003 | KU Radio News Line

Audio


Contact: Paul Atchley, Department of Psychology, (785) 864-9803; Frank Barthell, University Relations, (785) 864-8869.

Radio News Line text:
Even hands-free cell phone use while driving is dangerous, says KU researcher

KEEP THAT CELL PHONE HANDY WHILE DRIVING TO YOUR NEXT VACATION SPOT. BUT UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY PAUL ATCHLEY SAYS CELL PHONE CONVERSATIONS WHILE DRIVING IN TRAFFIC ARE DANGEROUS.

ATCHLEY CONDUCTS COGNITIVE STUDIES ON DRIVER DISTRACTION. HIS RESEARCH FOUND THAT DRIVING WHILE TALKING ON A HANDS-FREE CELL PHONE WAS NO SAFER THAN DRIVING WHILE HOLDING THE PHONE.

ATCHLEY CITES A 1997 STUDY PUBLISHED IN THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE THAT HE SAYS IS STILL THE MOST RELIABLE RESEARCH CORRELATING ACCIDENTS TO CELL PHONE USE. THE STUDY FOUND THAT CELL PHONE CONVERSATIONS WHILE DRIVING, WHETHER HANDS-ON OR HANDS-FREE, QUADRUPLED THE LIKELIHOOD OF AN ACCIDENT.

ATCHLEY SAYS CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES WHEN TALKING ON THE CELL PHONE SHOULD BE OUTLAWED.
ATCHLEY: "I think in situations of heavy demand -- on freeways, in cities -- that cell phones, hands-free or hands-on, are risky enough that they should be considered to be banned under those circumstances." (12 sec.)

ATCHLEY SAYS IF YOU NEED TO USE YOUR CELL PHONE WHILE DRIVING, PULL OFF THE ROAD TO MAKE THE CALL.

ATCHLEY SAYS DRIVERS DON'T HAVE AN ABSOLUTE RIGHT TO USE A CELL PHONE WHILE DRIVING.
ATCHLEY: "I'm disturbed by that because the roadways are public roadways. Your right to use a device that could reduce my safety is an illusionary right; there is no right." (10 sec.)

SOME ARGUE THAT TALKING ON A CELL PHONE IS NO DIFFERENT THAN LISTENING TO THE RADIO. ATCHLEY DISAGREES.
ATCHLEY: "You can only process so much information at any one time; everything else gets filtered or lost. So a radio is a passive event that you can filter out. A conversation is not an event you can filter out. So then, something has to give, and what happens is that our brain then begins to filter out information from the roadway." (15 sec.)

ATCHLEY SAYS CONVERSATIONS WITH PASSENGERS IN THE CAR DON'T POSE THE SAME THREAT AS TALKING ON THE CELL PHONE.
ATCHLEY: "What we find is that when people are talking in vehicles and traffic gets heavy, people naturally tend to stop the conversation because the passenger, as well as the driver, is aware that traffic's heavy." (10 sec.)

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