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Is It Dangerous to Drive and Listen to Sports Radio?

The UPI (and the Houston Chronicle) report that the U.K.’s Transport Research Laboratory has found that driving while listening to sports on the radio can be as dangerous as driving while drunk:

[R]eaction times were slowed by up to 20 percent when drivers were listening to sports, adding nearly 20 feet of additional stopping time for a car traveling 70 mph. … “To put this into context, this increase in distance traveled is 10 per cent further than the additional stopping distance when driving with a blood alcohol level at the U.K. legal limit,” the report read. … “At particularly tense times, such as penalty shootout, it may be safer to find a safe place to park and enjoy the action without risking an accident,” Dr. Nick Reed of the Transport Research Laboratory said.

Caveat lector: the study involved just nine men and nine women. No word on whether they were perhaps also texting, applying makeup, or fingering their worry beads.
(HT: Cyril Morong)


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