From: ahk@chinet.com   
      
   Stephen Sprunk  wrote:   
   >On 01-Jul-14 16:26, Calvin Henry-Cotnam wrote:   
      
   >>I totally agree with this. By extension, this is why I believe that   
   >>use of a cell phone by the driver of any vehicle while the vehicle is   
   >>in motion (and to a lesser extent if it is stopped but in traffic)   
   >>should be illegal - hands free or not.   
      
   >>It is not the use of the handset that is the distraction, it is the   
   >>conversation that one has on the phone. This is NOT the same as a   
   >>conversation with a passenger present in the vehicle.   
      
   >Actually, studies show that the accident rate is just as high when the   
   >driver is having a conversation with someone in the car as with someone   
   >on the other end of a phone call.   
      
   No, they don't. It's possible for the other passenger in the care to   
   notice whatever the driver failed to pay attention to and shut the fuck   
   up in time for the driver to resume driving attentively and avoid the   
   collision. That's not the case with a remote caller. Multiple teenage   
   passengers in a car with a teenage driver are an incredibly serious   
   distraction, however.   
      
   There's also a theory that hands free is MORE dangerous for certain drivers   
   who make a lot of hand gestures while talking because they just don't hold   
   onto the steering wheel, but holding a handset to talk, they don't gesture.   
      
   >And both are roughly equivalent to driving while drunk.   
      
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