Used car drivers urged to 'take note of hands-free phone dangers'

Posted by Louise Clark

Road safety charity Brake has cited new research as highlighting the extreme dangers presented by using hands-free mobile phones while driving.

Used car drivers may be among the 97.5 per cent of motorists who displayed impaired performance when at the wheel during a recent study conducted by a US university.

Motorists taking part in the research by Utah University took 20 per cent longer to brake when using the phone kit with following distances increasing by 30 per cent and memory performance declining by 11 per cent.

Ellen Booth, campaigns officer for Brake, described the evidence as "overwhelming" and called on politicians to take note of the results.

"Using a hands-free phone isn't safer than using a hand-held because it's the conversation that's the distraction," she said.

Previous research from the university has shown that using a hands-free kit at the wheel can be as dangerous as drink driving.