The results are in: Driving while phoning is just as distracting as drunk driving. It's not a new concept, but a new study by University of Utah psychologists explored many angles to support the theory.

The study, published June 29 in the summer 2006 issue of Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, examined 40 participants. Each "drove" a driving simulator four times: once while undistracted, once using a handheld cell phone, once on a hands-free cell phone, and once while intoxicated to the 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level after drinking vodka and orange juice. Participants followed a simulated pace car that braked intermittently.

Claims published similar results from the Discovery Channel television show, Mythbusters, although its study used one male and one female driver. For more on the Mythbusters study, click here.

The University of Utah study found that compared with undistracted drivers, motorists who talked on either handheld or hands-free mobile phones drove slightly slower, were nine percent slower to hit the brakes, displayed 24 percent more variation in following distance as their attention switched between driving and conversing, were 19 percent slower to resume normal speed after braking, and were more likely to crash. Three study participants rear-ended the pace car. All were talking on mobile phones, and none were drunk.

Drivers intoxicated at the 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level drove a bit more slowly than both undistracted drivers and drivers using cell phones, but more aggressively, according to the study. Drunk participants followed the pace car more closely, were twice as likely to brake only four seconds before a collision would have occurred, and hit their brakes with 23 percent more force.

"This study does not mean people should start driving drunk," said study co-author Frank Drews. "It means that driving while talking on a cell phone is as bad as or maybe worse than driving drunk."

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