Cell phones distract drivers, hands down. (Behavior).Calling all motorists: Using a hands-free cell phone while driving markedly interferes with the ability to maneuver a vehicle safely, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. several new tests. In 2001, David L. Strayer of the University of Utah The University of Utah (also The U or the U of U or the UU), located in Salt Lake City, is the flagship public research university in the state of Utah, and one of 10 institutions that make up the Utah System of Higher Education. in Salt Lake City and his colleagues reported that people talking on either handheld or handsfree cell phones during simulated drives ran red lights more often and reacted more slowly to traffic signals than when not talking on a phone. No such problems occurred for drivers who either talked with a passenger or listened to the radio or to books on tape. In new investigations led by Strayer, 110 college students operating a driving simulator Driving Simulators are used for entertainment as well as in training of driver's education courses taught in educational institutions and private businesses. They are also used for research purposes in the area of human factors and medical research, to monitor driver behavior, caused more rear-end collisions
A rear-end collision (often called simply rear-end) is a traffic accident where a vehicle (usually an automobile or a truck) impacts the vehicle in front of it, so called because and reacted more slowly to vehicles braking in front of them during periods when they talked on a hands free cell phone. The worst impairments occurred while driving in heavy traffic, the researchers report in the March Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. Cell-phone conversations sapped the attention required to discern important driving cues, Strayer holds. For instance, immediately after taking simulated drives past a series of billboards, volunteers could recall fewer of the signs if they had been talking on a handsfree cell phone. Yet eye-tracking tests showed that drivers looked directly at two-thirds of the billboards, whether or not they used a cell phone. In another test, volunteers used a joystick (hardware, games) joystick - A device consisting of a hand held stick that pivots about one end and transmits its angle in two dimensions to a computer. Joysticks are often used to control games, and usually have one or more push-buttons whose state can also be read by the computer. to align a cursor (1) The symbol used to point to some element on screen. On Windows, Mac and other graphics-based screens, it is also called a "pointer," and it changes shape as it is moved with the mouse into different areas of the application. with a moving target on a computer screen. At the same time, a series of words flashed briefly on the screen. Participants later recognized fewer of those words if they had been talking on a hands-free cell phone during the exercise. Strayer's prescription: Don't drive while yapping on the phone.--B.B |
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