Cecil Moore wrote:
Richard Clark wrote:
Ham radio operators behind the wheel and engaged in a QSO exhibit no
greater care than the ordinary driver on the cell phone.

I don't find that to be the case at all. Either for myself, or for
others I've discussed the issue with.

My half-duplex ham radio seems less distracting
than my full-duplex cell phone that I have to
hold to my ear and mouth at the same time.

I agree with Cecil, I find radio QSO's to be *much* less distracting
than cell phone conversations. I think there are a couple of reasons
for that.

1) Cell phones usually are only in one ear, even with a hands free
headset. I find it takes considerably more concentration to process
audio that is delivered in that fashion and most of the other folks
I've compared notes with find that also. The cabin filling audio of
the radio speaker which is heard by both ears is much easier to get
information from.

2) I think there is a different cultural meme about telephone
conversations vs radio conversations. I think most of us grow up using
a phone in a household where we tend to turn inwards and pay attention
to the call and isolate ourselves from the room full of distractions
(TV, other conversations, etc). I think that's reinforced by the
relatively low audio level in the handset which tends not to overpower
the local environment's noises, you pretty much have to focus on the
conversation on the phone and we learn that behavior. I believe that
'phone' behavior is carried over into cell phone usage, and mobile
cell phone usage where it's obviously not a good thing. In contrast
most folks have QSO's with room filling audio and a whole different
paradigm for how they interact with a 'radio' device as opposed to a
'telephone' device. I suspect that part of the popularity of the Push
To Talk services offered by some cell companies is because they break
that 'phone device' paradigm.

3) The conversations themselves might command more attention. It's one
thing to be chatting with my buddies on the radio, if I drop out of
the conversation to pay attention to traffic or whatever, there are no
repercussions. On the other hand, a business phone call may command a
lot more of my attention - if my boss has gone to the trouble of
tracking me down on my cell, it's likely the call carries more weight
than a casual conversation with friends. That alone will cause me to
invest more attention resources to dealing with it than I will for a
radio conversation, with whatever collateral effects on my
concentration for driving. If I'm trying to think about a problem and
do remote troubleshooting via phone, it's even worse and I better pull
over (and do).

I find that all three of these factors combine to make a cell phone
call much different than a radio conversation in terms of how it
impacts my situational awareness while driving (or flying). While
flying it's often the case that I'm listening to two different
conversations on two radios (tower and ATC) to piece together a
picture of what's going on in the airspace I'm in, and even that is
less attention grabbing than a cell call.

YMMV

73 de Kevin, WB2EMS