Mobile phone 'tunnel vision' puts drivers in danger

NEWS New research from a US university has revealed a potentially lethal "tunnel vision" that drivers get while talking on a mobile phone. Researchers found that drivers using mobile phones, even hands-free devices, aren't processing peripheral vision well. The scientists studied twenty volunteers who used a driving simulator to experience all sorts of distractions, from cars suddenly swerving to a stoplight changing. In one test, a driver on a phone and one focused solely on the road were shown the same series of billboards. The driver not chatting on his phone remembered seeing 50 per cent more billboards than the driver on the phone, the study found - which means mobile phone use in cars is also bad news for advertisers. David Strayer, associate professor at the University of Utah, said this is "inattention blindness," an impairment that slows reaction time by 20 per cent and made some mobile phone users miss half the red lights they were suddenly presented with in some simulations. Strayer said: "We found that when people are on the phone, the amount of information they are taking in is significantly reduced. People were missing things, like cars swerving in front or sudden lane changes. We had at least three rear-end collisions." The results of the study will be published in the March edition of the American Psychology Association's Journal of Experimental Society: Applied. The study is among many investigations into the effects of driving and using a mobile phone. Most have shown some impairment.