IP: Re: What really distracts drivers Study: All cell phones distract drivers

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> To: farber () cis upenn edu
> cc: lauren () vortex com
> Subject: Re: IP: What really distracts drivers Study: All cell phones 
> distract drivers
> Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 07:54:18 -0700
> From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
>
> Dave,
>
> I contacted CNN to try get a pointer to the exact document (and its
> methodology) that they claim asserts that 20-30% of crashes are caused by
> cell phone use (a number I've seen CNN use before).  Not only does this seem
> to vastly contradict other studies such as the AAA report you cited, but
> also has another problem.  If 20-30% of crashes were caused by cell phones,
> a relatively new mass-use technology, one might expect to have observed a
> very significant increase in crashes as cell phones came into common use,
> given relative stability of other "risk" and traffic factors.  Yet such a
> dramatic increase is not apparent in available statistics.  No response from
> CNN yet.
>
> --Lauren--
> Lauren Weinstein
> lauren () pfir org or lauren () vortex com or lauren () privacyforum org
> Co-Founder, PFIR: People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
> Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
> Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
> "Reality Reset" Columns - http://www.vortex.com/reality



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