Experiments conducted on a university simulator showed that students who talked on handheld or hands-free cell phones drove more slowly, had slower braking reaction times, and were more likely to crash. Suprisingly, three study participants rear-ended a pace car while talking on a cell phone, while those students who were legally drunk did not crash.
The study reinforces earlier research by Drews and his colleagues showing that hands-free phones are just as distracting as handheld phones because the conversation, not just the manipulation of a device, distracts drivers from their surroundings.
Source: Yahoo News
