Cell phones, driving don't mix — period

I stand corrected.

In a recent column I both praised Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson for banning cell-phone use by city workers while driving and criticized him for extending that ban to hands-free cell phoning. I figured that there's no harm in talking while driving as long as you're not distracted by having to punch out numbers first or rummaging through the console to find the cell phone underneath Big Mac wrappers. Besides, it's fun disagreeing with Rocky.

But a number of thoughtful readers responded with e-mails citing scientific studies that show that hands-free cell phoning is just as distracting as hands-full cell phoning.

If the scientists are right, I was wrong.

An example of my quick education and enlightenment came from "Kate," who wrote:

"It took me a 30-second Google search to find a report on a recent cell-phone study by the University of Utah."

She gave me the link: unews.utah.edu/p/?r=062206-1.

I called up the article. It was dated June 29, 2006. The title: DRIVERS ON CELL PHONES ARE AS BAD AS DRUNKS.

Three U. professors, Frank Drews, David Strayer and Dennis Crouch, paid 40 students to sit in a simulcaster and drive either while intoxicated, using a handheld cell phone, using a hands-free cell phone or while completely undistracted.

The intoxicated drivers were given a vodka and orange juice that got their blood-alcohol level to .08 percent. (Isn't it amazing what college students will do in the name of research?)

Both groups of cell phoners were told to talk away.

The rest were told to shut up and drive.

The results: Cell-phone users in both groups and drivers with .08 percent blood alcohol were all more than five times as likely to get in an accident as undistracted drivers.

"Impairments associated with using a cell phone while driving can be as profound as those associated with driving while drunk," the report concluded.

In fact, cell phoners had more simulcasted crashes, although the study did indicate that the drunken drivers were driving at the start of their "high," which probably accounted for more alertness, and also they were probably lucky.

"We don't think people should drive while drunk, nor should they talk on their cell phone while driving," wrote Strayer.