Hands-on or hands-free -- while driving, you better be unreachable. A new study has found that using even a hands-free mobile can make you a nuisance on roads as it slows everyone else down.
A team of international researchers has carried out the study and found that drivers who use hands-free devices on roads cause delays by driving slower, fail to change lanes and hold up traffic, the Daily Mail has reported.
According to researcher Peter Martin of University of Utah, "It's a bit like breaking wind in the elevator. Everyone suffers. It has to do with the reaction to changes in speed. When a driver who is not distracted is in a traffic stream and the vehicle in front slows down, the driver will brake in response. When a vehicle speeds up in front, the driver will respond and speed up."
The team concluded after analysing a group of 36 students driving on traffic simulators in the university's laboratory.
They used hands-free phones for half the time and no mobiles for the other half.
The participants were told to obey speed limits and use turn signals, but the rest of the driving decisions were up to them. The researchers found that while talking on the hands-free phone, motorists drove more slowly, made fewer lane changes, and had slower reactions to the varying traffic conditions.
When stuck behind a dawdling driver, it took them between 25 and 50 seconds longer to switch to an open lane to overtake. Overall, mobile phone drivers took three per cent longer to drive along the same high-density route.
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