Drivers On Cell Phones Slow Traffic, Become Even More UnlikableS
If you didn't dislike drivers who spend all their time in the
car chatting away on their cell phones before, a new survey from
the University of Utah is going to push you that much closer to
grabbing a tire iron and smacking the crap out of their X3 (in
places where Cell phone driving laws don't exist). The study
shows that drivers on cell phones drive about 2 mph slower on
congested roads, thus slowing down every driver behind them.
What makes them slower?  According to the study, which involved
putting students in driving simulators, we simply lack the
ability to do many tasks at once and the cell phone thus slows
down the calculations you can make. For instance, when you're
listening to your friend Mel tell that story about how Brenda
dumped Mark because he was "into pee" you just missed an
important lane change. Was it really worth it? [AP via Yahoo]