Mobile use in car more dangerous than drink

Drivers who use their mobile phones while behind the wheel are more likely to have an accident than drunken motorists, according to test results published today.

Drivers who use their mobile phones while behind the wheel are more likely to have an accident than drunken motorists, according to test results published today.

Those using hand-held phones while driving were 30 per cent slower to react than those who had been drinking and 50 per cent less reactive than sober motorists. Mobile users, who were put through a series of driving manoeuvres, found it harder than drunk drivers to maintain a constant speed or keep a safe distance from the car in front.

The findings, which prompted Janet Anderson, a Labour MP, to call for a legal ban on the use of mobiles by motorists, will also dispel the widely held view that it is safe to drive while talking using "hands-free" sets.

The researchers concluded: "This study demonstrates beyond doubt that using a mobile phone when driving significantly impairs the driver's attention to potentially hazardous situations, more so than having a blood alcohol limit at the UK legal limit."

When asked to stop while driving at 70mph, the phone users had great difficulty. Those using a handset stopped after travelling for an average of 45 metres (148ft). Drivers who were speaking on phones with the aid of "hands-free" ear-pieces stopped after an average of 39 metres (129ft). Motorists driving under normal conditions were able to bring their vehicles to a standstill after travelling 31 metres (102ft). Even "drunken drivers" – who had consumed slightly more than the legal limit of alcohol – stopped after 35m (115ft).

The report, commissioned by the insurance company Direct Line, said: "The conversation itself is a major distraction, with the use of hands-free phones carrying hidden dangers.

"As a result of this finding, even the use of hands-free proved far more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol."

The study conducted by the Transport Research Laboratory in Berkshire found that making or receiving a mobile phone call could divert a motorist's attention in many different ways. It said drivers took their eyes off the road and often their hands off the wheel.

The report said: "The distraction caused by making or receiving a call can be visual, auditory, mental (cognitive), or physical (biomechanical). A hand-held mobile phone call could involve all four forms of distraction at the same time."

Drivers who used their phones to send text messages were subject to the highest levels of physical and visual distraction, the report said.

The researchers denied suggestions that phones were no more of a distraction to a driver than car stereos or the presence of a passenger. They said passengers would stop talking if potential hazards appeared, whereas callers to a motorist's mobile would keep talking because they were unaware of danger.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa) believes that 17 people have been killed in Britain as a result of accidents caused by drivers talking on mobile phones.

A Direct Line/Mori poll found that motorists were increasingly aware of the dangers of using hand-held phones. Three-quarters of the 2,000 drivers polled thought the practice was "very distracting" and 82 per cent thought it should be banned.

But hands-free sets were seen as "very distracting" by only 27 per cent of respondents and were regarded generally as less dangerous for motorists than driving with children or eating fast food at the wheel.