A long time ago, I posted (http://jakubkorab.blogspot.com/2005/07/hands-free-mobile-use-causes-crashes.html) about a study in which researchers found that talking on a hands free phone kit was just as disruptive as using a mobile phone. I laughed that it was actually talking to other people that was the culprit. Well now it turns out that that’s not far from the truth.
A book I’ve been reading, Mind Performance Hacks (http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Performance-Hacks-Tools-Overclocking/dp/0596101538), describes how the language center of the brain is used to glue together information from other parts of the brain – helping us to make sense of different sources of information, such as colour and spatial perception. When that part of the brain is distracted from the task at hand, the ability to perform that task drops substantially. Have you ever wondered why you can drive and listen to the radio when you know where you’re going, but need to turn it off when reading a map?
So while the efforts of police forces around the world in limiting mobile phone use while driving are worthwhile, they’re really just addressing a symptom of a problem which you just can’t legislate against. Either way, don’t bug the driver.