Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: New Study Refutes Assumed Link Between Cell Phone Use and Auto Accidents
From: David Farber <dfarber () cs cmu edu>
Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 03:44:00 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> Date: August 21, 2007 5:21:28 PM EDT To: Frode Hegland <frode () hyperwords net> Cc: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>, dfarber () cs cmu eduSubject: Re: [IP] New Study Refutes Assumed Link Between Cell Phone Use and Auto Accidents
And are you saying that being on the phone - holding the phone with one hand - is the same as talking to someone in the back seat?
No, only that the studies repeatedly indicate that hand-held is not more distracting than handsfree. The fellow behind the Calif. law even admits this, but wants to promote driving with "two hands on the wheel" (though he doesn't seem to have any science to show that's any safer, and the law doesn't require it. And if you drive a stick shift like me? Oh well...)
And anyway, all this talk of statistics, how reliable are they really? Would everyone who was involved in an accident while on the phone even own up to this?
Clearly an issue for *all* distractions related to accidents. That's why I think the latest study is so interesting. If cell phones were such a major new serious distraction leading to accidents, we should easily be able to see an increase in the accident stats. It should stand out like a sore thumb. But apparently it isn't there. Unless you can postulate some other factor that would have greatly reduced accidents over the same period to compensate (I can't think of any obvious ones), something seems very wrong with the assumption that cell phones are so dangerous when driving in the first place. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- New Study Refutes Assumed Link Between Cell Phone Use and Auto Accidents David Farber (Aug 20)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: New Study Refutes Assumed Link Between Cell Phone Use and Auto Accidents David Farber (Aug 21)
- Re: New Study Refutes Assumed Link Between Cell Phone Use and Auto Accidents David Farber (Aug 21)
- Re: New Study Refutes Assumed Link Between Cell Phone Use and Auto Accidents David Farber (Aug 21)
- Re: New Study Refutes Assumed Link Between Cell Phone Use and Auto Accidents David Farber (Aug 22)