[Mike F]

Originally Posted by ernie

absolutely used my cell phone in the car....but I only ever use hands free mode. No different than talking to the person in the seat next to me.

If you are using your hand to hold the phone while talking I don't think it takes much attention from your driving anymore than talking to a passenger (unless it restrcits your view to shoulder check or something somehow). It does however limit your control in an emergency manouveur so i always use a hands free.

Science disagrees:

"Drivers who talk on the phone may be "blinded" by their conversations and are more likely to cause an accident -- even if they use a hands-free cell phone. A new study shows that telephone chatting causes a unique type of "inattention blindness" that slows drivers' reaction times and may even contribute to traffic jams and air pollution."

"Researchers say talking on the phone produces a more hazardous form of distraction than conversations between the driver and other passengers in the car because the flow of in-car conversations are still dictated by the external environment, whereas cell phone conversations focus attention internally."