Even simple cell phone conversations can cause distracted driving. Researchers have found listening on the phone while driving creates a lag in the mind to extract itself from one object before fixing attention on another object. Photo by Justin Torner.
The experiments mimic a scenario in which a driver is using a cell phone or having a conversation with a passenger, says Shaun Vecera, professor in the UI Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and corresponding author on the paper, published online June 5 in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. Vecera completed some of the work while a fellow at the UI’s Obermann Center for Advanced Studies.
There’s little dispute cell phone use—whether texting or talking—is hazardous for drivers. The U.S. National Highway Safety Administration reports that in 2015, 3,477 people were killed and 391,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving drivers engaged in cell phone conversations, texting, and other distractions.
That’s why a growing number of states—Iowa included—have either limited or banned some uses of a cell phone while driving.