MOBILE PHONE and DRIVING

For those who love using mobile while driving

Rajan Walia, TNN 

CHANDIGARH: All of you who are in the habit of chatting on the mobile phone while driving. Just don't do it Your brain just cannot manage driving and chatting simultaneously. A recent research at the Johns Hopkins University says the brain cannot handle the sights and sounds simultaneously. 

And traffic police personnel and neurologists don't differ on this count, either. In a significant decision of Traffic Regulation and Pollution Control case in 1998, 'Namit Kumar versus UT Administration,' justice Sat Pal and justice Swatantra Kumar of Punjab and Haryana Court had instructed the UT administration to start challaning commuters who chat on mobile while driving. 

Ever since that Punjab and Haryana High Court has been closely monitoring the Chandigarh Traffic Police's role in challaning the defaulters. While talking to Times of Chandigarh, a senior traffic police official stated that during the previous year, they challaned nearly 4,000 violators and this number will get double by the end of this year. 

Multitasking has been one of the new buzzwords doing the rounds, but if you brag about what a great multi-tasker you are, don't. Especially when you refer to your ability to drive and gab on the mobile at the same time, warn experts. According to the senior traffic police official, "You can't concentrate on the road when you are talking on the mobile.

It can cause accidents." Which is why there are continuous drives against such offenders. Neurologist Dr Uday Murgod says, "It's difficult for the brain to handle too many functions at the same time. You have to be extraordinarily gifted to multitask like that." 

Oct 10, 2005, 

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/For-those-who-love-using-mobile-while-driving/articleshow/1257954.cms