The Science of Distracted Driving

by Nathan John Medeiros-Ward
University of Utah Applied Cognition Laboratory

The odds of getting into a crash are four times higher when a driver is talking on the cell phone. To put the four-fold increase in crashes into perspective, the odds of crashing are the same when driving drunk (at a blood alcohol level of .08 - the legal limit in all 50 US states). Simply put, driving while talking on a cell phone is like driving drunk (at least in terms of crash risk).