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Source: ONE News -
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I'm biting the bullet. I'm coming clean.
Minus the deathbed, this is my deepest secret and my darkest
revelation and I'm spilling it in the full knowledge I'll be
vilified for the rest of my days and will probably just wither up
and die a lonely death.
From time to time I use my cellphone when I drive.
Anti-climax? Well it mightn't seem like the most cataclysmic
revelation in the history of all time, but even though
it's not illegal for another few hours I feel
pretty guilty. Not that I'm alone. Research from
the University of Auckland shows two thirds of New Zealand drivers
currently use their cellphones from behind the wheel. Most of us
are smart enough to concede there are some obvious risks&mere
logic would suggest that diverting your eyes to read a text
message, or taking one hand off the wheel to answer a call probably
isn't the safest way to operate a vehicle, but it's actually just
as dangerous as being drunk. Now, for all of us, it's time to kick
the ugly habit.
Even if the law wasn't changing tomorrow, I think I'd go into a
self-imposed cellphone-car ban . To test the affects of cellphone
use in cars, we visited the
Unviersity of Waikato's driving simulator , where
they've been studying the subject for years, and my results were a
bit sobering. Mid-conversation with a cellphone at my ear, I
swerved all over the place, I struggled to watch my speed, and
there was no way I could properly focus on the road. In just a few
minutes, I notched up several life threatening mistakes. I missed a
one-lane bridge, I almost rear-ended a vehicle and I kept on
speeding. It was a disaster.
I hadn't realised, but just speaking on the phone is equally as bad
(Even worse, sometimes) than texting and driving . Because you're
forcing your brain to multi-task you have to divert attention from
the road to your phone. You increase your crash risk by 400%. It's
for that reason that road safety experts are recommending car-kits
(Which will be legal to use)
should also be banned in vehicles . They can see little
difference between a mounted phone, and one at the driver's ear.
It's the conversation that causes the risk.
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