Cell phone studies: While walking or driving, cell phones increase traffic, pedestrian fatalities
Thursday, March 5, 2009 - 07:50
in Health & Medicine
Cell phones are a danger on the road in more ways than one. Two new studies show that talking on the phone while travelling, whether you're driving or on foot, is increasing both pedestrian deaths and those of drivers and passengers, and recommend crackdowns on cell use by both pedestrians and drivers. The new studies, lead-authored by Rutgers University, Newark, Economics Professor Peter D. Loeb, relate the impact of cell phones on accident fatalities to the number of cell phones in use, showing that the current increase in deaths attributed to cell phone use follows a period when cell phones actually helped to reduce pedestrian and traffic fatalities...