friends don't let friends phone and drive

From U.S. News and World Report...

There's a reason you want to scream at all those drivers on their cellphones: They are holding up traffic. Based on studies in driving simulators, David Strayer, a University of Utah psychology professor, has concluded that gabbing motorists drive about 2 mph slower than those with their attention fully on the road. That can add 20 hours a year to an hourlong commute. "People kind of get stuck behind that person, and it makes everyone pay the price," Strayer says. With about 1 in 10 drivers on a cellphone, the effect is quickly compounded. The reason for the delay, according to Strayer, is that the brain can process only so much information at a time. Cellphone users react by slowing down--however unaccommodating that may be for the drivers behind them.

Beyond slowing things down, they're typically worse drivers. For example, how many times do you see yahoos in the fast lane, driving slowly and yammering on a phone?

There's an old joke which is actually true: most people think that they're above-average drivers. Well, here's a truism: if you're on your phone, you've just moved to the bottom half.