How dangerous is it to talk to a passenger in your vehicle while you’re driving said vehicle?
That was addressed in the studies.
Apples and oranges.
Real conversations do not affect our brains like phone calls do.
Perhaps it’s the habit of having to listen more intently over the phone than in person.
I think it’s because the phone calls make us focus on the object, itself.
In addition, a 2012 white paper by the National Safety Council – which includes references from more than 30 research studies – found that “the cognitive distraction from paying attention to conversation – from listening and responding to a disembodied voice – contributes to numerous driving impairments” including inattention blindness (when drivers look at, but do not “see” objects in their path), slower reaction times and problems staying in a lane. That paper concludes: “Driving while talking on cell phones – handheld and hands-free – increases risk of injury and property damage crashes fourfold.”
Believe it or not, but a passenger or radio playing is actually less hazardous than the cellphone.
The reason is when the call comes in your brain does more than just chat with the caller. It often causes you to envision the person, maybe the place where they are, what THEY are doing vs. what you are doing(driving). The imagination is a serious distraction to driving.
In fact, that “virtual” conversation is more distracting than talking with a passenger, their study shows. In their study, Rose and Hunton suggest that “cell phone conversations consume significantly more attention than passenger conversations, resulting in more incidents and crashes during simulated driving.
“Due to the lack of nonverbal cues, conversations on cellular telephones demand more cognitive resources than conversations with passengers,” the study notes. “More working memory is consumed by cell phone conversations relative to passenger conversations, and fewer resources are available for the driving task.”
http://news.siu.edu/2006/03/030306tw5142.html
Sorry, that rationalization doesn’t work.
If you insist on eye contact, very dangerous.