An older study, long before the roads were littered with bodies from this.
From the results of the study that has been described in this report, the following conclusions may be offered.
- All forms of cellular phone usage lead to significant increases in the establishment of non-response to highway-traffic situations and increase in time to respond.
- Complex, intense conversation leads to the greatest increases in likelihood of overlooking significant highway traffic conditions, and the time to respond to them. The distracting effect is similar to that of tuning a radio. The effect of placing calls or engaging in casual conversation is less of a problem, although, calling tends to retard responses.
- The distracting effect of cellular phone use among drivers over age 50 is two- to three-times as great as that of younger drivers and encompasses all three aspects of cellular phone use - placing calls and carrying on simple and complex conversations. The effect is to increase non-response by 33-38%.
- Prior experience with cellular phones appears to bear no relation to the distracting effect of cellular phone use.