Article Review: Dangers of Distracted Driving

This article is another informative work on the dangers on distracted driving. This article, however, includes distractions from hands-free devices that allow one to have a phone conversation without holding a phone to his or her ear. A study showed that someone texting or having a conversation on a wireless headset drove as poorly as someone whose blood alcohol concentration was above the legal limits in Australia and Spain, where this was tested (0.5 grams per liter). The study also found that when the conversation over the headset was simple, the driver drove as someone under the influence of alcohol with a 0.4 g/L BAC. When the conversation was intense, the driver drove similar to someone with a BAC of 0.7, which is almost illegal in the United States. When texting, the study found someone drives similar to someone with a BAC of 1, which is illegal in every country mentioned. I was surprised to learn hands-free devices caused such a distraction. I knew they would cause some distraction, as your focus was on the conversation rather than the road, but I didn't think it would have such the effect that it did. I've been warned time and time again about the dangers of texting and driving, and my parents set a good example by putting their phones away when they drive. However, they often use wireless headsets in the car to hold a conversation with someone, which I assumed was okay. This report told me otherwise, and now I know how dangerous even hands-free phone conversations can be and will attempt to avoid them as much as possible when I drive in the future.