Do Bluetooth Handsfree kits improve road safety?

There are more cars on the road now than ever before. Combine this with new technology & the need to be in contact with everybody every minute of the day, and it could spell disaster for 1000's of road users daily.

Some new statistics state that more than 50% of road users in the UK have illegally used their mobile phone when driving more than once in the last week, and a figure around 85% have used their phones while driving in there life time.

To decide whether handsfree kits offer improved safety, we first have to discuss how using a mobile phone is dangerous. There is no doubt amongst the experts that it is. Using a mobile phone is dangerous for two reasons.

Firstly when talking on your phone whilst driving you have to break contact with the wheel & car controls to do so, and by breaking contact from the vehicle you also reduce your reaction time by up to 4x.

Secondly concentration is lost when talking to other people, less attention is paid to the road and more on the conversation taking place. This is a natural occurrence & no matter how much we feel we can over compensate for doing so we cant, again this reduces reaction time. Combining both together when driving can result at the very least dangerous driving.

We now come to the title question, Do bluetooth handsfree kits improve driver safety? Well there are arguments for both sides of the debate. The opposition mainly concentrating on the second point made earlier, that concentration is lost when making a phone call & to be honest the use of a handsfree car kit doesn't really improve this. However do we only hold conversations over the phone or do we also have them with the passengers we carry? I don't know anybody who carries passengers and doesn't talk to them at some point during the commute. Who defines whether this is more or less acceptable than doing so over the phone?

The problem is there are so many distractions when we drive already which are equal to talking over the phone, and not necessarily from inside the car. These distractions occur every minute where driving & its up to us whether or not to take notice (most of the time we don't). However this is where the counter argument comes from.

Distractions are a common occurrence, and talking on the phone is no more of a distraction than say reading an advertising board, playing the number plate game or even singing along with the radio. The point is, if we outlaw the use of phone kits where do we stop, do we make it illegal to do anything other than drive. Were not allowed to take our eyes of the road & our hands from the steering wheel, no talking, listening to music or anything other than driving? Would this be more dangerous due to boredom?

Phone Kits are considered to improve safety due to the fact you no longer have to hold the phone to have a conversation. Your hands remain on the steering wheel & eyes on the road. In fact the process is the same as talking to somebody next to you. Using phone kits aren't illegal, however if a police officer thinks you are driving dangerously due to using a phone kit or changing the stereo or CD or even talking to a passenger you can be prosecuted. It is the drivers responsibility to gauge whether they are capable or doing so safely.

One thing is for sure, using a bluetooth car kit does improve ease of making or receiving a call & allows the driver to concentrate on driving properly. Its certainly a better option than not using one.
Parrot Bluetooth is a good place to start when considering a car kit.