Re: New Study Refutes Assumed Link Between Cell Phone Use and Auto Accidents

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Gabe Goldberg <gabe () gabegold com>
Date: August 20, 2007 10:07:29 PM EDT
To: Dave Farber <dfarber () cs cmu edu>
Subject: Re: [IP] New Study Refutes Assumed Link Between Cell Phone  
Use and Auto Accidents

Hardly scientifically rigorous or statistically valid, but I've had  
far too many dangerous close calls with inattentive drivers on cell  
phones to believe all the "maybe" reasonings in the article. I've  
*ridden* with people who were frighteningly distracted by their phone  
conversations. Drivers making unnecessary lane changes and slowing to  
talk, drivers leaving exaggerated lengths behind cars they're  
following, drivers pulling over to the side of the road (!) are  
hardly driving well/attentively/safely. All these "maybes" are gut  
feel as much as any belief in the danger of cell phones might be. And  
there's no way to track "almost" accidents -- the sort of near-miss  
incidents that ARE reported for airplanes.

I don't see validity in arguing that cell phone use shouldn't be  
regulated because it's just one more distraction among eating, tuning  
radio, and changing CDs. I think it's quantitatively different  
(people spend hours on the phone, only tune radio or switch CDs  
occasionally) and quantitatively different (you can interrupt tuning  
radio or switching CDs but are less likely to stop talking mid- 
sentence when driving suddenly requires full attention).

"Maybe drivers aren't as irrational as we think they are," said  
Bhargava. "In real life, people may be aware of the risks of cell  
phones, and they may adjust their driving behavior."

The researchers said drivers on cell phones may move into slower  
traffic lanes, increase the distance between their cars and others,  
or pull over to the side of the road to talk. They may also  
"substitute" across sources of risk by talking on the phone instead  
of, for example, fiddling with the radio or conversing with a fellow  
passenger. Maybe cell phone use helps to keep some drivers, such as  
long-distance truckers, awake and alert, Bhargava and Pathania said.  
They also theorized that cell phone use is more problematic when  
driving in poor weather conditions or for drivers in certain  
demographic groups, such as teenagers.

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
> Now, a new U.C. Berkeley study appears to confirm that accident
> rates simply have not behaved in a way that would validate the views
> of those pushing these cell phone laws that affect the general
> population:
>
> http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/08/13_cellphone.shtml
>
> Laws passed on the basis of gut feelings, rather than hard facts,
> are often the ones that make the least sense and do the least good.



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