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"If you have a lot of people who are not changing lanes and driving slower, this could substantially reduce traffic flow"...and hurt fuel economy because unlike hypermilers they are a true impediment (http://www.livescience.com/technology/080102-cell-phone-traffic.html)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/cell_phone.jpgDave Mosher – LiveScience – Dec. 2, 2007

Motorists using cell phones are known to drive like drunks, but their overall effect on traffic flow was uncertain until now.

New computer simulations show that chatty drivers — using regular cell phones or even hands-free devices (http://www.livescience.com/technology/060313_driving.html) — take longer to complete their trips because they drive more slowly on highways and pass sluggish drivers less frequently.

"At the end of the day, the average person's commute is longer because of that person who is on the cell phone right in front of them," said Dave Strayer, a University of Utah psychologist and leader of the research team. "That S.O.B. on the cell phone is slowing you down and making you late."

Strayer and his colleagues detail their findings in a study to be presented Jan. 16 at the Transportation Research Board's annual meeting.… http://www.livescience.com/technology/080102-cell-phone-traffic.html

I don't really care if they slow people down, I just get sick of being cutoff and almost run over by idiots on cell phones swerving across 3 lanes of traffic cause they missed their exit. The best i've seen was, a guy backing up half a mile down up a on ramp while talking on a cellphone.

"We designed the study so that traffic would periodically slow in one lane and the other lane would periodically free up," Cooper said. "It created a situation where progress down the road was clearly impeded by slower moving vehicles, and a driver would benefit by moving to the faster lane, whether it was right or left."

IME, lane-changing helps only if there is a clear problem in one lane and you switch to another and stay there. Lane-hopping back and forth in real traffic rarely gets you ahead much faster.

Also, in this state and many other places (especially Europe) passing on the right on a 2-lane-each-way highway is illegal (though rarely enforced) and less safe than passing on the left. Unfortunately getting out of the left lane is not well enforced either.

It may be that there are several categories of cell-phone users: one that recognizes that they are driving somewhat impaired and therefore go slower and stick to the right lanes. I see these all the time. And a second group who speed like maniacs and hop lanes like crazy. This study implies that the second group is preferable because they don't slow traffic as much (except for the accidents they have/cause?).

While the study's illumination of the problems of cell phone usage while driving is encouraging, its focus on speed of travel over safety and fuel economy is disturbing. According to the study, the problem with cell phone usage isn't that it's dangerous, the problem is that it may slow traffic???

Hypermiling as I do all the time, cell phone users (more women than men, oddly enough) find driving behind me a welcome shelter from the fly boys out there. I find this especially true on the interstate where most are flaming along at 75, 80 or higher and gabbers find that behind me they don't have to "compete". They just slip behind a driver going the minimum (me) and start devoting more time to their gabbing. If asked they would surely say, "I'm not impeding traffic, the guy in front of me is"!

Which is no problem with me. They keep the many beligerant dump truck drivers out there from tailgating me, plus the longer they gab, the less gas they will be using!

Bob.

I have noticed a few people don't mind hanging out behind me while I'm hypermiling.... oddly, like you noted bob, they are talking on the phone. Not sure if they are back there because they just want someone to cruise behind, or if they are not paying attention enough to realize that I'm going 5 under the speed limit.

The same thing happens to me and just like you I wonder if they even notice. I do notice that when they hang up they almost invariably switch to the left lane and zoom by.

This is a bit OT, but while driving in today I was wondering what people did while driving >15 years ago before cell phones were widely used in cars? Think? Drive? Talk to themselves? Listen to radio/tapes/CD's? Books on tape? Language lessons? Listen to everybody cussing and arguing on the CB? Look out the windows? Must have been incredibly boring.

You mean like I do right now? :eek:

I don't like the radio on, and usually I'm driving by myself. I really dislike talking on the phone while driving. If my wife is in the car we chat. In her car I get subjected to nonstop radio/cd playing and rather abrupt transitions on the road. I find the whole process very distracting and distracted on her part. <shiver>

Cell phone companies should provide this if they don't already do this - have programmable buttons for situations like driving...

you are caught in rush hour traffic
phone rings
just punch a programmable button
caller gets a message...."he is on the road at the moment, but he will return the call as soon as he is out of traffic - leave a message if you like"

I've told people flat out that I would never take a call while driving. Some people have congratulated me on this. But I don't see them following suit. It is like this behavior is wonderful but way too saintly. :) Yikes.

--des

I've told people flat out that I would never take a call while driving. Some people have congratulated me on this. But I don't see them following suit. It is like this behavior is wonderful but way too saintly. :) Yikes.

--des

I've cut WAY back on my cell usage in the car. Partly because I'm too busy driving now. Very easy to do, just turn the thing off or mute it when you get in the car. Hard part is remembering to turn it back on afterwards.

IF your going to talk while driving, the very least you could do is at least use a hands free device. I wish more people would consider using these.

IF your going to talk while driving, the very least you could do is at least use a hands free device. I wish more people would consider using these.

Legally required in CT, though you wouldn't know it from the number of people using handhelds (yes I use a wired one on the increasingly rare occasions when I use the phone in the car). BTW, they're really handy for using the phone when NOT in the car.

The real insult is that usually the State Troopers are blabbing away on handhelds when they whiz past on patrol.

actually I thought it was legally required in NC as well.... not positive though. If its not it should be.. everywhere!

I've told people flat out that I would never take a call while driving. Some people have congratulated me on this. But I don't see them following suit. It is like this behavior is wonderful but way too saintly. :) Yikes.

--des

same here. if it rings, i just let it go to voicemail. i have a friend who sometimes trailers my horse, but i won't do that again when i discovered she still talks on her phone pulling a trailer. not a good idea, in my book.

Isn't saying that the distraction of cell phones is cured by using a hands free device a little like saying the distraction of beer is cured by using one of those sippy helmets with the straw (a hands-free device, if you will)?

I think the greater threat is the concentration diverted from the road to the phone. It's the same threat posed by eating, tuning the radio, trying to get a kleenex from the backseat, or trying to figure out what kind of roadkill that was...

Did I hear once that German cars (in Germany) don't have cupholders or radios? I think that was on the discovery channel or something...anyone?

Full disclosure: I sometimes eat, tune the radio, retrieve a kleenex, and talk on the phone (not at the same time) in the car.

Isn't saying that the distraction of cell phones is cured by using a hands free device a little like saying the distraction of beer is cured by using one of those sippy helmets with the straw (a hands-free device, if you will)?

I think the greater threat is the concentration diverted from the road to the phone. It's the same threat posed by eating, tuning the radio, trying to get a kleenex from the backseat, or trying to figure out what kind of roadkill that was...



From what I've read, you are correct. It's the psychological involvement in the phone call, the focus on the phone call, that takes away focus from driving that results in impairment equivalent to drivers who are legally drunk behind the wheel.

Harry

You are quite correct. There is however a further danger if one hand is tied up instead of available. Also, it seems that elbow hovering in the air or leaning on the window sill will impede the ability to look over the shoulder when changing lanes, and I frequently see people completely blocking their peripheral vision with the "phone hand."

If you have to use the phone, all of us are much better off if you are using a normal, functional driving position with a hands free device. The safest however will always be full concentration on the job at hand -- namely, driving.

This is true...

I've found that hypermiling is a natural deterrent to using the phone anyway. I get in the car, toss the phone on the pax seat...a few momentum conserving turns later, I have no idea where the phone is!

There seems to be an implicaiton that talking on the phone slows "traffic", but based on what is said, it seems to only slow the driving talking, leaving the other space readily available for fully attentive drivers. That seems like a mostly good thing, until they plow into the back of me.

I do from time to time have to engauge in cellphone conversations due to my job. That is the only time I do it, is when that specific ring comes up. If not for the job I would not even have a cell phone. As for the radio, both my cars have radios but I have not turned them on in 5 years. Always liked to listen to the engine more, and concentrate on traffic. I'm thinking about replacing the skateboard radio with some gauges, just not sure which gauges I should put there.

I've noticed that if I even listen to the radio, segment MPG's suffer. I think it's an effect that is primarily caused by reduced attention, not increased electrical load causing drag on the engine. ;)

If I'm talking on the phone, it's even worse. :o

Thanks,

Bob

i do have the radio playing, but it's classical. helps keep me somewhat relaxed. i haven't noticed that it affects my FE.....