Mobile phone use 'slows' couriers
Date: 03 January 2008
Couriers who use a mobile phone while behind the wheel could be slowing themselves and others on the road down.
Making a call while driving actually adds time onto the journeys of the couriers or motorists behind you, a new study has found, whether breaking the law and using a handheld or utilising a hands free device.
Research carried out by the University of Utah found that chatting on the phone makes couriers two miles per hour slower through commuter traffic.
It also revealed that motorists using a phone are 20 per cent less likely to change lanes to keep with the flow of traffic than drivers not using one.
As up to ten per cent of couriers and other motorists in the UK are thought to be using a mobile phone at any one time, this reduction in speed could have a considerable impact.
"The distracted driver tends to drive slower and have delayed reactions," lead researcher David Strayer, a psychology professor, told the Associated Press.
Couriers in the UK could face jail if found guilty of illegally using a mobile phone while driving, under plans unveiled recently by the Crown Prosecution Service.
As part of the proposals, drivers using mobiles or other technological devices could be charged with dangerous driving.
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