Too_Many_Tools wrote:

The group might be interested in reading this article....

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp..._young_drivers

And it doesn't matter whether the phone is hand-held or handsfree, he
said. Any activity requiring a driver to "actively be part of a
conversation" likely will impair driving abilities, Strayer said.

In fact, motorists who talk on cell phones are more impaired than
drunken drivers with blood-alcohol levels exceeding 0.08, Strayer and
colleague Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology, found
during research conducted in 2003.

[etc]

Does that imply that a driver carrying on a conversation with a passenger is impaired? I find that I can talk to
anyone who is present with no difficulty, but when on the phone, I have trouble keeping the conversation coherent
(this is at home; I don't have, or want, a cell phone). When a second person interrupts me during a person-person
conversation, I have no problem, but when a phone conversation is interrupted (either at my end or the other
end), it is extremely distracting.

Of course, I've seen some drivers carrying on very animated conversations with a passenger, involving lots of
hand motions, etc. that probably are a hazard...

I hate restrictive laws, but driving on public roads is a potentially dangerous task, and I want all drivers to
concentrate on *getting to their destination safely*. "Hang up and drive or pull over and talk."

Joe