Cell Phone Law May Leave Chatty Drivers At Risk

CHICAGO -- A new law that takes effect in Chicago next week aims to change a deeply ingrained habit: driving while talking on a cell phone.

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Images: Hands-Free Hype?

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The intent behind the law, requiring hands-free devices, is to cut down the very real risks involved in driving and talking.

But what's fuzzier and fuzzier, according to safety researchers, is whether there's any difference in going hands-free.

Will it improve safety or promote a false sense of security?

At the corner of Wells and Ontario streets, NBC5's Lisa Parker saw 36 drivers in 10 minutes talking on their cell phones without hands-free devices.

But in seven days, hardcore Chicago talkers will have to kick the habit.

As the new law kicks in, there is abundant research to suggest that it might not make the streets of the city any safer.

But don't tell that to Alderman Burton Natarus, who is the driving force behind the hands-free law.

"I'm convinced more and more that we're on the right track," Natarus said. "By having a hands-free device, you are allowing the individual the opportunity to keep both hands on the wheel."

Natarus offered a packet of research, which he said affirms the safety of hands-free over handheld phones.

But the studies he leans on don't actually compare apples to apples, Parker said.

For example, the ordinance he sponsored references a New England Journal of Medicine study from 1997, which concluded driving while talking quadruples the risk of having an accident and is almost as risky as driving drunk.

That study didn't compare handheld versus hands-free phones -- a difference Natarus shrugs off.

"But what, what I'm trying to say is having both hands on the wheel is really, really the control mechanism," he said. "It's control, not distraction."

But down the road in Champaign, a University of Illinois professor and leading researcher on the topic begs to differ.

"Yes, it's a good idea to have your hands on the wheel. It's also a good idea to have your mind on the task at hand, which is driving," professor Art Kramer said. "It's about control and distraction."

Whether in-hand or hands-free, Kramer said talking and driving is still unsafe -- because the conversation is what distracts.

"When we put people on a hands-free cell phone conversation, their performance degraded quite precipitously," he said.

Kramer showed Target 5 the driving simulator used in a recent university study to track drivers' eye movement.

In the test, participants drove and talked, and then just drove.

Invariably, Kramer said, conversation conflicts with safe driving, wherever the phone is.

"They'd be slowed, not on the order of a second or so, but often on the order of four or five seconds, which is way beyond the amount of time you might have to respond appropriately," Kramer said.

And a sizable body of research now directly questions the safety of hands-free devices, Parker reported.

For example, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study found "hands-free (devices) were more time-consuming to interact with."

A recent Swedish government study found that drivers using hands-free devices drove significantly faster than drivers holding their cell phones.

And a much-publicized Norwegian study of 9,000 drivers found those who use headsets made calls more often than those who put the phone to their ears.

Nonetheless, Chicago drivers have no choice but to make a run on hands-free equipment, unless they want to run afoul of the new law.

Though there are doubts about the effectiveness of the new law, no one suggests you ignore it: That could cost you $50 per fine.

But the top highway safety official in the country, the head of NHTSA, recently spoke out on laws like Chicago's. He said he is concerned these policies give hands-free phones a free pass as being safe.