Using a hands-free phone is just as distracting as using a handheld mobile phone, according to new research.
The study carried out by psychologists at the University of Sussex, published in the Transportation Research journal, found that drivers having conversations which sparked their visual imagination detected fewer road hazards than those who didnât. They also focused on a smaller area of the road ahead of them and failed to see hazards, even when they looked directly at them. This shows the risks of even hands-free phone conversations.
The researchers found that conversations may use more of the brainâs visual processing resources than previously understood. Having a conversation which requires the driver to use their visual imagination creates competition for the brainâs processing capacity, which results in drivers missing road hazards that they might otherwise have spotted.
Dr Graham Hole, senior lecturer in Psychology at the University of Sussex, said: âA popular misconception is that using a mobile phone while driving is safe as long as the driver uses a hands-free phone. Our research shows this is not the case. Hands-free can be equally distracting because conversations cause the driver to visually imagine what theyâre talking about. This visual imagery competes for processing resources with what the driver sees in front of them on the road.
âOur findings have implications for real-life mobile phone conversations. The person at the other end of the phone might ask âwhere did you leave the blue file?â, causing the driver to mentally search a remembered room. The driver may also simply imagine the facial expression of the person theyâre talking to.
âClearly this research isnât a green light to use hand-held mobile phones while driving, however. The use of hand-held phones was made illegal primarily because they interfere with vehicle control; but our study adds to a mounting body of research showing that both hand-held and hands-free phones are dangerously distracting for drivers. The only âsafeâ phone in a car is one thatâs switched off.â
The study, which tracked eye movements, also found that drivers who were distracted suffered from âvisual tunnelling.â They tended to focus their eyes on a small central region directly ahead of them. This led them to miss hazards in their peripheral vision. Undistracted participantsâ eye movements ranged over a much wider area.
Dr Hole said: âConversations are more visual than we might expect, leading drivers to ignore parts of the outside world in favour of their inner âvisual worldâ â with concerning implications for road safety.â
Dr Hole says anything which causes drivers to imagine something visually, including passengers, can interfere with driving performance because the two tasks compete for similar processing resources.
He said: âHowever, chatty passengers tend to pose less of a risk than mobile phone conversations. They will usually moderate the conversation when road hazards arise. Someone on the other end of a phone is oblivious to the other demands on the driver and so keeps talking. And talking in person involves non-verbal cues which ease the flow of conversation. Phone conversations are more taxing because they lack these cues.â