ROAD KILLERS! CELL PHONES: HANDHELD OR NOT, STUDY CALLS THEM RISKY.

Byline: Dominic Berbeo Staff Writer

Talking on a cell phone - even a hands-free model - while driving doubles a motorist's response time to traffic signals and increases the risk of accidents, according to a research study released Thursday.

The study found that conversation on the phone created a greater distraction than the act of holding the device.

``This study adds new data to the ongoing national debate on driver distractions and their causes,'' said Alan C. McMillan, president of the National Safety Council, a nonprofit safety education agency that published the findings of the study by the University of Utah.

``It underscores the importance of reiterating that a driver's primary obligation is to operate his or her motor vehicle safely.''

Drivers using both handheld and hands-free cell phones missed twice as many simulated traffic signals as when they were not talking on the phone, the study found. It also took them longer to react to signals that they did detect.

Some San Fernando Valley drivers had mixed reactions to the study findings.

``It's kind of distracting,'' said Mindy Baeder, while talking on her cell to her boyfriend to decide on a movie and parking at a West Valley mall.

``But if you just, like, pay attention to what you're doing, you're OK,'' she said. ``If I can talk to other people in the car when I'm driving, then what difference does it make if I'm on the phone?''

Charles Benton, a truck driver delivering goods to the mall, said he has seen the danger of cell phones on the road.

``Some drivers are just bad drivers,'' he said. ``Now if you get them on the phone having some heated conversation, that's going to make it worse.''

But the study still leaves doubt as to whether cell-phone use is a greater cause of traffic crashes than other driver distractions, such as changing the radio's dial setting.

``The wireless industry has long held that education is the key to addressing the issue of distraction,'' Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association President Tom Wheeler said in response to the study. The CTIA represents cell-phone companies, which declined to comment on the study and referred all questions to the association.

``We must remind drivers that their primary responsibility is to drive safely and we must educate them on how to recognize when it's appropriate to use a wireless phone, change a CD or look at a map while driving,'' Wheeler said.

Wheeler pointed to recent National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics showing that at any given time only 3 percent of U.S. drivers are actively using their wireless phones. Nationwide, the CTIA estimates there are 120 million cell-phone subscribers.

John Moffat, chairman of the National Association of Governors' Highway Safety Representatives, also warned that any driver distraction could be dangerous.

``In all these discussions, I'm concerned that the focus on technology is overriding the fact that many crashes can be attributed to traditional distractions and not cell phones,'' Moffat said.

The study did not address the effects on driving of dialing cell phones.

Last month, a driver apparently dialing his cell phone was killed when he ran a red light and crashed into another vehicle in Mission Viejo.

Federal legislation banning handheld phones was introduced in May after a Pennsylvania woman testified to Congress how her daughter was killed when a driver dialing a cell phone hit her car.

According to the authors of the University of Utah study, laws that ban handheld phones but allow hands-free phones while driving might not reduce the risk of crashes.

``A great deal more research like this is needed to help us fully understand the public policy implications of the growing use,'' McMillan said in a prepared statement.

Results of the study bring into question the effectiveness of laws being drafted around the nation to regulate the use of cell phones for drivers, many of which favor hands-free phones.

The study found that laws banning handheld cell phones ``are not likely to reduce interference from the phone conversation because the interference is, in this case, due to central attention processes.''

The Automobile Club of Southern California has taken the position that regulation of cell-phone use should not be legislated until further study is done on the driving effects.