Cell phones and driving
This website is a good resource on the dangers of cell phone use while driving. Deadly Calls: How answering your phone can cost you your life http://www.qualityansweringservice.com/resources/deadly-calls-how-answering-your-phone-can-cost-you-your-life
This website displays articles from all over the world on cell phone use
http://www.drivers.com/allarticles/42 
50 countries have laws prohibiting cell phone use in some form. In the U.S. eight states require hands free phones.
Most studies show that drivers on cells phones are twice as likely to miss traffic signals, their reaction time is slower to the signals they do detect, their risk of causing a crash increases by 400%. Using hands free equipment has not been proven to improve driver performance while on the cell phone. It is the phone conversation and the intensity of it that distracts a driver and causes the crash. All studies have found that talking on a cell phone is a major distraction.
If you must talk and drive please:
- Get to know your phone - and its features such as speed dial and redial. Carefully read your instruction manual and learn to take advantage of valuable features most phones offer including, automatic redial and memory dial-most phones can store up to 99 numbers in memory dial. Also, work to memorize the phone keypad so you can use the speed dial function without taking your attention off the road.
- Use hands free devices - Use a hands-free microphone while driving. Hundreds of hands-free wireless phone accessories are readily available. Whether you choose an installed mounted device for your phone or a speaker phone accessory, make sure your phone is installed to get the best possible sound quality. Distraction potential can be minimized by ergonomically sound cellular phone designs.
- Position your phone within easy reach - Make sure you place your wireless phone within easy reach and where you can grab it without removing your eyes from the road. If you get an incoming call at an inconvenient time, let your voice mail answer it for you.
- Don't obstruct vehicle safety devices - The size and placement of hand-held cellular phone mounting brackets can sometimes interfere with vehicle safety equipment such as airbags. The devices may also contribute to driver injury by becoming projectiles during a crash. Keep these hazards in mind when deciding where to install your phone.
- Suspend conversation during hazardous conditions - Let the person you are speaking to know you are driving; if necessary, suspend the call in heavy traffic or hazardous weather conditions, without warning if necessary. Rain, sleet, snow and ice can be hazardous, but so is heavy traffic. As a driver, your first responsibility is to pay attention to the road.
- Pay attention to the road - Do not take notes or look up phone numbers while driving. If you are reading an address book or business card while driving a car, or writing a "to do" list, then you are not watching where you are going. It's common sense. Don't get caught in a dangerous situation because you are reading or writing and not paying attention to the road or nearby vehicles.
- Dial sensibly and assess the traffic - if possible, place calls when you are not moving or before pulling into traffic. Try to plan your calls before you begin your trip, or attempt to coincide your calls with times you may be stopped at a stop sign, red light or otherwise stationary. But if you need to dial while driving, follow this simple tip-dial only a few numbers, check the road and your mirrors, then continue. Today's phones offer automatic redial and can store up to 99 numbers in their memory allowing you to make a call by using two or three buttons.
- Do not engage in distracting conversations - Stressful or emotional conversations and driving do not mix-they are distracting and even dangerous when you are behind the wheel. Make people you are talking with aware you are driving and if necessary, suspend phone conversations which have the potential to divert your attention from the road.
- Avoid long social calls - Keep conversations short and sweet. Develop ways to get free of long-winded friends and associates while on the road. Don't use the cell phone for social visiting while you drive.
- Use your phone to call for help - Your wireless phone is one of the greatest tools you can own to protect yourself and your family in dangerous situations-with your phone at your side, help is only three numbers away. Dial 9-1-1 it's a free call on your wireless phone. Use common sense and restraint when dialing Emergency service facilities as they can be overwhelmed when multiple calls are received for the same incident
- Use your phone to help others - Your wireless phone provides you a perfect opportunity to be a "good Samaritan" in your community. If you see an auto accident, crime in progress or other serious emergency where lives are in danger, call 9-1-1, as you would want others to do for you.
Call roadside assistance when necessary - Call roadside assistance or a special wireless non-emergency assistance number when necessary. Certain situations you encounter while driving may require attention, but are not urgent enough to merit a call to 9-1-1. If you see a broken-down vehicle posing no serious hazard, a broken traffic signal, a minor traffic accident where no one appears injured, or a vehicle you know to be stolen, call roadside assistance or other special non-emergency wireless number.
Check out this website for info on the states, cities and their laws. www.iihs.org/laws/cellphonelaws.aspx
Remember that cell phone use is a big distraction and one that should not be used while driving.
Use of Electronic Devices While Driving
A 2008 survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reveals an increase in the use of electronic devices while driving and some regional differences in this practice.
Overview
The percentage of young drivers texting or using other hand-held electronic devices has increased from 2007, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s 2008 nationwide survey, which provides the only nationwide probability-based observed data on driver electronic device use in the United States. The survey shows that the hand-held cell phone use rate in 2008 translates into 812,000 vehicles being driven by someone using a hand-held cell phone at any given moment during daylight hours. It also translates into an estimated 11 percent of all vehicles that had drivers who were using some type of phone (hand-held or hands-free).
Highlights
- Nationwide, those drivers observed visibly manipulating hand-held electronic devices increased from 0.7 percent to 1.0 percent.
- Some 1.7 percent of drivers 16 to 24 years old were observed visibly manipulating hand-held electronic devices, up from 1.0 percent the previous year.
- More drivers in Western States were observed manipulating hand-held electronic devices (2.1%) than in the other regions of the country (from 0.4% in the Northeast to 0.8% in the Midwest).
- The use of hand-held devices increased the most in the West, from 0.6 percent in 2007 to 2.1 percent in 2008.
- The observed use rate of hand-held electronic devices was higher among females (1.2%) than among males (0.8%).
Methodology
The results above are from the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS), which provides the only nationwide probability-based observed data on driver electronic device use in the United States. The NOPUS is conducted annually by the National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The survey observes usage as it actually occurs at randomly selected roadway sites. The survey data is collected by trained observers at probabilistically sampled intersections controlled by stop signs or stoplights, where vehicle occupants are observed from the roadside. Data is collected between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Only stopped vehicles are observed to allow time to collect a variety of information required by the survey, including subjective assessments of occupants’ age and race. Observers collect data on the driver, right-front passenger, and up to two passengers in the second row of seats. Observers do not interview occupants, so that the NOPUS can capture the untainted behavior of occupants. The 2008 NOPUS data was collected between June 2 and June 22, 2008, while the 2007 data was collected between June 4 and June 25, 2007
The above information came from www.distraction.gov
IS TALKING ON THE PHONE AS RISKY AS DRIVING IMPAIRED?
- Simulator studies reported that talking on the phone and having a 0.08 percent BAC have comparable effects on some driving tasks.
- Risks of alcohol impairment accumulate over the entire duration of a trip, whereas the risks of phone use are usually limited to a portion of the trip.
- Most crash-involved impaired drivers have BACs far exceeding 0.08 (the average is 0.16) percent, and crash risk increases substantially at very high BACs.
- One-third of crash deaths occur in crashes involving drivers with BACs at or above 0.08 percent; no evidence cell phone-related crashes represent the same magnitude of the problem
SIMULATOR RESEARCH ON BRAIN ACTIVITY WHEN ON PHONE
- Participants were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while maneuvering a virtual car in a driving similar.
- 37 percent reduction in brain activity associated with driving while listening via a headset to spoken sentences judged as true or false vs. driving only
- Conclusion: listening and processing information from a phone conversation can draw mental resources away from driving, worsening driving performance, even when drivers are not holding or dialing a phone.
Information from www.iihs.org Insurance institute for Highway Safety