this test should have been done with 15 subjects just trying the virtual course with someone talking to them in the car, and then 15 without any distractions
Nevermind, I thought you talking about the real world course not the virtual course, my error. For the virtual course I can only speculate that they either couldn't use the equipment long enough or they had to pay to use the equipment and budget wouldn't allow a full control/distracted pairing.
This was exactly my thought. Their results indicate that there's no difference between hands full or hands free but they've failed to prove that using a phone while driving has any effect whatsoever. It could be that the virtual course was setup with so many hazards that even the most competent driver would likely fail. We'll just never know.
They failed also to prove that doing an interrogation is distracting anyway... I've said thousands time to shut up cause I need to drive, in person and on the phone
Also driving backwards changes how the car turns, the steering wheel creates a larger arc of the front of the vehicle which revolves around the back wheels, which are now the front wheels acting as the point of rotation...which results in tighter turns that are far more difficult to control
as Adam once said that Jamie is a bit on the spectrum and adams bubbly, easily distracted and excited, style I'd wonder, if their neurodivergence was a underestimated factor in those driving tests. Adhd and driving don't mix well. Got adhd myself and if I have a bad brain day, I just won't drive; otherwise most times in busy city traffic even the radio is to much distraction for me to hold focus on driving. Neurodivergence, be it adhd or autism, change the way we process information on a fundamental level - while blasting music while parking may be no problem for neurotypical individuals, neurodivergence tends to have difficulties filtering out sensory input and focus on the task at hand, so suppressing incoming information is much harder. I guess with a bigger sample size and better chosen test subjects, the results may have varied quite a bit..
Very often the stunt car's have front and rear wheel steering so you only have to correct half as much it's more like having a articulated vehicle because front and rear are steering
As someone that has worked in a retail warehouse I can confirm that being on a phonecall, whether it's by hand-held or bluetooth devices, will slow you down and affect your ability to operate anything. As an example I was moving 400 units an hour, compared to a large american woman that was moving closer to 200-250 units an hour and holding everyone up, meaning we had to go down opposing aisles and come back down the aisle we needed to get the items. She was on her phonecall constantly throughout the day and a real nuisance, getting special treatment due to not being British.
Driving in reverse is fundamentally different from driving forwards because, when driving forwards, the front wheels do the steering, and when driving in reverse, the "rear" wheels (which are normally the front wheels) do the steering. This results in much different behaviour from the car.
@@MetalFan10101 Never driven a forklift truck in either direction. Is there something particularly interesting about how it behaves? (I know the rear wheels are usually the wheels that do the steering.)
@@RB-bd5tz Well yes, its like driving a car in reverse. If you reverse and look over your shoulder it behaves pretty much like a car. Also you can do 360s on the spot. Interesting piece of kit.
Makes me sad that the ultimate backwards driver, the one true hero of backwards driving, Tow Mater, didn't even get a mention. I blame the mouse and his lawyers entirely, of course.
The difference is a passenger can see the road and shut up if a danger come. Someone on a phone can't see the road and will lose attention to the driver. In France we had an experience with a passenger and with a phone and the results were very different between passenger and phone
Something else to consider is people like my son and I who Visualize their thoughts. I was traveling to a work site with my son who was the technical expert for the work we were doing. He was driving and I was taking any calls so he would not be distracted. But, one caller insisted on talking to him, so he took the call and was able to diagnose the situation. When He handed the phone back, he said, "That was scary, for the last few minutes I've been looking at a cct board." Fortunately we were on a strait stretch of highway.
Everything is PRACTICE. When you are learning to drive, just concentrating on driving itself is enough, let alone using the other dashboard features. With experience, you can operate the air conditioning, radio, etc., while driving. Some people are also more easily distracted than others. I can use a phone, hands-free or not, or eat or drink without taking my mind off the road. Some people find that more difficult. Another thing is knowing your limits. In heavy downtown traffic or other difficult conditions, I don't pay attention to anything other than driving.
It's illegal to use your phone in the UK and you get 6 points n a fine. You've only got 12 points on a UK driving license so if your caught twice, you've lost your license for 2yrs and your insurance will go up a LOT.
It is great that most in the US drive auto cars. Unfortunatly, in the UK where we mostly drive manual, many people still think that they can drive with one hand! As to hands-free, you are still being distracted from what is probably the most complex and dangerous task that you will ever do in your daily life. (Civilians only, also pilots, marine captains, etC. You guys rock! But you don't use your phone while doing it! (I HOPE).
There are precision fighter jet pilots who talk/sing to each other over radios in order to fly withing a couple of feet of each other if that counts (a sort of hands free link between the jets separate to Air Traffic Control, etc). Of course, the key difference is they're talking about what they're doing, so not actually taking focus away from flying, much like 'commentary driving' in advanced driving courses like Roadcraft, the IAM, RoSPA, etc.
I think testing methodology is designed in most cases to produce the worse case scenario and while I think the results are a good indicator of an obviously dangerous task, the methodology could be better. For instance how often have you talked hands free or not to someone driving and witnessed an accident as a result. My bet is the results these tests are different than real world experiences and there's probably a number of reasons for that. I think perhaps people are less receptive to phone conversations when actually driving, they will choose to ignore the conversation more. The type and content of conversation matters greatly. The type of driving, road conditions, and novelty of the journey matter too. In particular novel tasks whether it be driving or conversational require more focus. Also casual low intensity, low priority conversation is likely less distracting than say giving or receiving life or death medical info in route to a hospital or for instance the pressure of a testing scenario.
Drivers are horrible at the best of times, no need to add phone calls to worsen those results. In fact, i am sure a huge chunk of those volunteers would have crashed even without the phone call. But i will add this, virtual worlds are NEVER analogs for the real world. In the real world you have more feedback and higher fidelity. You are simply more likely to spot someone doing something stupid because the actors are not simulations, they are real people and real people will show signs of their indecision and whatnot. Giving ample warning in most cases. IF they did this in a virtual world where ALL actors were real people, it would have been more interesting.
On the other hand, you might actually NEED to answer questions correctly when asked irl, or you might get asked stuff that shocks/distracts you completely, to the point where you zone out entirely. Like "hey babe, just a quick heads up, our son got bitten at the park .. when was his last rabbies shot? And, just checking, did he have 4 or 5 fingers prior? Eh, whatever, close enough, hey you want some indian tonight, there's a new one next to the hospital..". See? And now, on the fly, you have to decide what's for dinner. Boom, distraction! ^^
Kinda poor testing. I bet for the simulation test, if they added a control (driving with no distractions), drivers will still hit the cyclist. As for the GPS, without a graphical GPS routing, it is like having 2 conversations with 2 separate persons at the same time - you will miss out parts of either conversations, in this case, the GPS instructions
In the UK, using a handheld phone whilst driving is illegal. There was also talk of banning use of hands-free kits as well .. which IMHO is similar to banning the driver from talking to passengers ..?! How about legislating against these over-specced in-car-entertainment systems which are so loud the occupants can't hear an ambulance right behind them? (Never mind the flashing lights)!
The passenger can see what you will need to pay attention to and shut up, where someone on the other end of the phone won't see you approaching a junction with someone about to step into the road and decide at that moment to ask you what you want for dinner or tell you something is on offer at the store and would you like to change what you're getting there and then. Having said that, some passengers can be just as dangerous to have in the car when they don't react to the environment while talking or doing other stuff while in the car. Some places seem to think about this. Australia has limits on passengers for young 'P plate' drivers, up to only 1 passenger for the first 12 months at night.
Over 13 years of rallying, having a guy calling pace notes through an intercom and sometimes me speaking back, in a high stress environment, where you can have animals and even spectators on the course. Put on top of that, that guy or woman sat next too you is telling you what corner is next and an unknown to the driver, is probably worse than a mobile phone call. I think Richard Burns was being told when he was alive, six corners ahead of the one he was going into where to go or hazards ahead. Don`t get me wrong here, it takes practice and even the best can crash because of hearing the wrong note or miss hearing it. So if that can happen on a rally stage, it can happen on a phone call where it could take your attention from what your doing, but you could argue your wife or girl friend ripping you a new one, while being sat next too you could also do the same thing, which i think could happen as well as you end up taking your attention from the road and directing it at her or him. Personally if we can minimize car accidents then that is always a good thing.
I remember watching this episode when it first aired, and re-watching it now, I still think the same thing: It's completely biased and unrealistic (more so than what's usual for Mythbusters)... There is no way that, even if their data had shown that driving while on the phone (whether hands-free or not) was safe, that they'd have aired that (or been allowed to do so). Also, good heavens, either both Jamie and Adam, as well as those volunteers they got, are really bad drivers or something fishy's up with driving lessons in the US.
Have you not notice the amount of people that are with earbuds in listening to music while driving is that not more dangerous than phone because you are blocking the ear's and can't hear what is happening outside the car someone might showt
U have to take Ur hands n mind off Ur driving Ur mind is somewhere else it's w the fone u look at it n u press buttons n off m on ..iv watched people constantly look at their fones press buttons. Taking w someone n the car u stop n don't look at them .iv been driving many many yrs. It is not safe even with hands free
That would mean that you cannot talk to anyone in your car also.. And that includes the wife and the children.. Good luck with that one. ! Because if you're hands free then you can talk to those that are either in the car or not, Otherwise it makes no sense. This would also mean that you cannot talk to the taxi driver.. like saying pull over here or can you take me too...Instead of such and such place.. IT'S BONKERS. There is a big difference in a mom or a so called Sunday driver out and about who are not that good at concentration. Say compared to a professional driver. It will also mean the the fire brigade cannot talk while on route to a disaster and plan ahead of what to do before getting there, and this will mean the POLICE ALSO CANNOT HAVE a chit chat either on radio while chasing other cars, or anything else.. The Idiots in charge have NOT THOUGHT THIS THROUGH PROPERLY..
Those tests for driving on the phone are beyond stupid. NO ONE has conversations like that while driving. Also, hands free driving and talking is NO DIFFERENT than talking to a passenger. So it's a biased test. HEAVILY biased.
i think the idea behind the different questions is to activate different parts of the brain simulating something like getting bad news over the phone or something
Talking to a passenger *is different* to someone hands free on the phone. If you're driving into a busy environment or need to follow the satnav, the passenger can see this happening and stop speaking. The person on the phone can't see this and so won't stop asking you what you want for dinner, and telling you you're out of whatever your first choice was and need to decide on something else. They can't see that if you go quiet it's because a pedestrian is just stepped into the road, and so they'll ask if you're still there (thinking it cut out) expecting a response right when you need to be paying your full attention on that pedestrian, etc. A passenger in that situation would probably draw attention to the pedestrian, even if it's just to call them stupid or something. It's all the difference that's needed to make it a potentially significantly less dangerous situation.
this test should have been done with 15 subjects just trying the virtual course with someone talking to them in the car, and then 15 without any distractions
Nevermind, I thought you talking about the real world course not the virtual course, my error. For the virtual course I can only speculate that they either couldn't use the equipment long enough or they had to pay to use the equipment and budget wouldn't allow a full control/distracted pairing.
This was exactly my thought. Their results indicate that there's no difference between hands full or hands free but they've failed to prove that using a phone while driving has any effect whatsoever. It could be that the virtual course was setup with so many hazards that even the most competent driver would likely fail. We'll just never know.
They failed also to prove that doing an interrogation is distracting anyway... I've said thousands time to shut up cause I need to drive, in person and on the phone
@@MAXPAUERv That was the whole point to use the area of your brain that is also responsible for drawing conclusions from your surrounding.
@@motherpigeon1582 ok, but there's no difference being distracted on the phone or in person... At this point also talking should be illegal
Also driving backwards changes how the car turns, the steering wheel creates a larger arc of the front of the vehicle which revolves around the back wheels, which are now the front wheels acting as the point of rotation...which results in tighter turns that are far more difficult to control
33:20 - Jamie having a fun time
I wonder how many of those people would have done just as bad without a phone at all
I agrees - I think that it would have been very useful to have some people do without a phone as well.
Me watching this while driving
I love the Mythbusters
as Adam once said that Jamie is a bit on the spectrum and adams bubbly, easily distracted and excited, style I'd wonder, if their neurodivergence was a underestimated factor in those driving tests. Adhd and driving don't mix well. Got adhd myself and if I have a bad brain day, I just won't drive; otherwise most times in busy city traffic even the radio is to much distraction for me to hold focus on driving. Neurodivergence, be it adhd or autism, change the way we process information on a fundamental level - while blasting music while parking may be no problem for neurotypical individuals, neurodivergence tends to have difficulties filtering out sensory input and focus on the task at hand, so suppressing incoming information is much harder. I guess with a bigger sample size and better chosen test subjects, the results may have varied quite a bit..
Very often the stunt car's have front and rear wheel steering so you only have to correct half as much it's more like having a articulated vehicle because front and rear are steering
As someone that has worked in a retail warehouse I can confirm that being on a phonecall, whether it's by hand-held or bluetooth devices, will slow you down and affect your ability to operate anything. As an example I was moving 400 units an hour, compared to a large american woman that was moving closer to 200-250 units an hour and holding everyone up, meaning we had to go down opposing aisles and come back down the aisle we needed to get the items. She was on her phonecall constantly throughout the day and a real nuisance, getting special treatment due to not being British.
Just curious, was she black?
@@ao1778 mhm.
Driving in reverse is fundamentally different from driving forwards because, when driving forwards, the front wheels do the steering, and when driving in reverse, the "rear" wheels (which are normally the front wheels) do the steering. This results in much different behaviour from the car.
Ever drove a forklift truck in reverse?
@@MetalFan10101 Never driven a forklift truck in either direction. Is there something particularly interesting about how it behaves? (I know the rear wheels are usually the wheels that do the steering.)
@@RB-bd5tz Well yes, its like driving a car in reverse. If you reverse and look over your shoulder it behaves pretty much like a car. Also you can do 360s on the spot. Interesting piece of kit.
They should have used a Dutch made DAF car for driving in reverse. This car can drive as fast backwards as forwards.
Hang on there, DAF builds cars?! I know they build trucks, that's fairly known, but never known they'd build trucks.
Vehicles that CVT gearboxes can in theory go the same speed in reverse as going forwards. But I’m pretty sure manufacturers will have a limiter on it.
I never heard Jamie laugh like that; that made me happy
Makes me sad that the ultimate backwards driver, the one true hero of backwards driving, Tow Mater, didn't even get a mention. I blame the mouse and his lawyers entirely, of course.
if handsfree is dangerous, wouldn't it also be dangerous to talk to somone else in the car? what's the difference???
Maybe a passenger can read the road situation so will pace his questions? Who knows.
The difference is a passenger can see the road and shut up if a danger come. Someone on a phone can't see the road and will lose attention to the driver. In France we had an experience with a passenger and with a phone and the results were very different between passenger and phone
@@KallavsLol, that's why the rest of the world makes fun of Americans; You're all so proud, vain & dumb
@@Kallavs yeah I know but it doesn't matter. In France it's also forbidden to drive with a phone in one hand but completely legal in hand-free 🤷🏻♂️
There is a difference and I know it's all down to how your brain perceives things.
"we got trained in many things, we're really no averege joes when it comes to driving" *proceeds to drive like the biggest averege joe ever* lol
They've proven over the course of the show to both be well trained drivers.
"Oh, look at that, I bumped over a whole bunch of things." Accurate simulation of Jamie driving past an orphanage.
Something else to consider is people like my son and I who Visualize their thoughts. I was traveling to a work site with my son who was the technical expert for the work we were doing. He was driving and I was taking any calls so he would not be distracted. But, one caller insisted on talking to him, so he took the call and was able to diagnose the situation. When He handed the phone back, he said, "That was scary, for the last few minutes I've been looking at a cct board." Fortunately we were on a strait stretch of highway.
I almost drive off route when my mom suddenly scream in the car once she know that won a small price lottery.
I inform my mom, you almost get us kill.
Sorry for bad english:
Where were you when car almost crash
I was sitting in car winning lottery when my child drive
"u almost get us kill"
No
I think they meant to say that they were the ones driving when they informed their mom that they hit the jackpot and screamed into their ear
@@Alchrat You missed the joke.
They were both in the same car.
@@m2heavyindustries378 Never forget Heat Legend. A toast of brain fluid in his honor.
Now imagine a Swedish truck and wagon type reversing to a docking bay
Everything is PRACTICE. When you are learning to drive, just concentrating on driving itself is enough, let alone using the other dashboard features. With experience, you can operate the air conditioning, radio, etc., while driving. Some people are also more easily distracted than others. I can use a phone, hands-free or not, or eat or drink without taking my mind off the road. Some people find that more difficult. Another thing is knowing your limits. In heavy downtown traffic or other difficult conditions, I don't pay attention to anything other than driving.
Now throw a manual transmission into the mix....... :)))
It's illegal to use your phone in the UK and you get 6 points n a fine. You've only got 12 points on a UK driving license so if your caught twice, you've lost your license for 2yrs and your insurance will go up a LOT.
It is great that most in the US drive auto cars. Unfortunatly, in the UK where we mostly drive manual, many people still think that they can drive with one hand! As to hands-free, you are still being distracted from what is probably the most complex and dangerous task that you will ever do in your daily life. (Civilians only, also pilots, marine captains, etC. You guys rock! But you don't use your phone while doing it! (I HOPE).
There are precision fighter jet pilots who talk/sing to each other over radios in order to fly withing a couple of feet of each other if that counts (a sort of hands free link between the jets separate to Air Traffic Control, etc). Of course, the key difference is they're talking about what they're doing, so not actually taking focus away from flying, much like 'commentary driving' in advanced driving courses like Roadcraft, the IAM, RoSPA, etc.
The difference between someone else in the car is that they are going to stop talking very often when they see your distracted
6:10 Yes Adam their coastline are so long the coastline even on a few another countries 🤣
I love the MythBusters!
"multi-million dollar simulator" and they dont even have collision programmed??? 🤣🤣🤣
Driving forward or backward I have never let the steering wheel slip of my fingers! Why would you let the kinetic energy of your car go wild?
No, basis group which isn't calling...
I think testing methodology is designed in most cases to produce the worse case scenario and while I think the results are a good indicator of an obviously dangerous task, the methodology could be better.
For instance how often have you talked hands free or not to someone driving and witnessed an accident as a result. My bet is the results these tests are different than real world experiences and there's probably a number of reasons for that.
I think perhaps people are less receptive to phone conversations when actually driving, they will choose to ignore the conversation more. The type and content of conversation matters greatly. The type of driving, road conditions, and novelty of the journey matter too.
In particular novel tasks whether it be driving or conversational require more focus. Also casual low intensity, low priority conversation is likely less distracting than say giving or receiving life or death medical info in route to a hospital or for instance the pressure of a testing scenario.
This is scary. I see dozens of people weekly to use phones while driving.
Welcome to the real world
lol on this they should of done an experiment just driving normal without a phone and see how they do
Bring out the Stig!!!!
Just for reference drive came out in 2011
Drivers are horrible at the best of times, no need to add phone calls to worsen those results.
In fact, i am sure a huge chunk of those volunteers would have crashed even without the phone call.
But i will add this, virtual worlds are NEVER analogs for the real world. In the real world you have more feedback and higher fidelity. You are simply more likely to spot someone doing something stupid because the actors are not simulations, they are real people and real people will show signs of their indecision and whatnot. Giving ample warning in most cases.
IF they did this in a virtual world where ALL actors were real people, it would have been more interesting.
well...
I could say that generally people talking on the phone in the car aren't doing something as mentally strenuous as Trivia, so it's not very accurate
On the other hand, you might actually NEED to answer questions correctly when asked irl, or you might get asked stuff that shocks/distracts you completely, to the point where you zone out entirely. Like "hey babe, just a quick heads up, our son got bitten at the park .. when was his last rabbies shot? And, just checking, did he have 4 or 5 fingers prior? Eh, whatever, close enough, hey you want some indian tonight, there's a new one next to the hospital..". See? And now, on the fly, you have to decide what's for dinner. Boom, distraction! ^^
cool
Kinda poor testing. I bet for the simulation test, if they added a control (driving with no distractions), drivers will still hit the cyclist. As for the GPS, without a graphical GPS routing, it is like having 2 conversations with 2 separate persons at the same time - you will miss out parts of either conversations, in this case, the GPS instructions
In the UK, using a handheld phone whilst driving is illegal. There was also talk of banning use of hands-free kits as well .. which IMHO is similar to banning the driver from talking to passengers ..?! How about legislating against these over-specced in-car-entertainment systems which are so loud the occupants can't hear an ambulance right behind them? (Never mind the flashing lights)!
touch screens for essential controls should be banned
It’s even more distracting seeing a cop in your rearview mirror.
when driving with the phone in his hand, how does he change gears?
They're Americans which means they're too lazy to have a manual transmission 😂
you put the phone between your cheek and shoulder and shift into third, which covers most speed limits .. then you have a free hand again
If handsfree is dangerous would ti also be dangerous to talk to someone else in the car what the difference
Having done both, for some reason hands-free required far more concentration. Perhaps because all the other nonverbal cues aren't there?
The passenger can see what you will need to pay attention to and shut up, where someone on the other end of the phone won't see you approaching a junction with someone about to step into the road and decide at that moment to ask you what you want for dinner or tell you something is on offer at the store and would you like to change what you're getting there and then.
Having said that, some passengers can be just as dangerous to have in the car when they don't react to the environment while talking or doing other stuff while in the car. Some places seem to think about this. Australia has limits on passengers for young 'P plate' drivers, up to only 1 passenger for the first 12 months at night.
Flaming car, everyday in san francisco these days
Over 13 years of rallying, having a guy calling pace notes through an intercom and sometimes me speaking back, in a high stress environment, where you can have animals and even spectators on the course. Put on top of that, that guy or woman sat next too you is telling you what corner is next and an unknown to the driver, is probably worse than a mobile phone call. I think Richard Burns was being told when he was alive, six corners ahead of the one he was going into where to go or hazards ahead. Don`t get me wrong here, it takes practice and even the best can crash because of hearing the wrong note or miss hearing it. So if that can happen on a rally stage, it can happen on a phone call where it could take your attention from what your doing, but you could argue your wife or girl friend ripping you a new one, while being sat next too you could also do the same thing, which i think could happen as well as you end up taking your attention from the road and directing it at her or him. Personally if we can minimize car accidents then that is always a good thing.
In series 9 were running out of steam and to ditching the young trio, not the best.
😂❤😂❤😂
The title is "The dangers of driving on the phone." What can you drive that fits on a phone?
Videos on this channel are uploaded by French TV production company. So proper English is questionable 🙃😅
I remember watching this episode when it first aired, and re-watching it now, I still think the same thing: It's completely biased and unrealistic (more so than what's usual for Mythbusters)... There is no way that, even if their data had shown that driving while on the phone (whether hands-free or not) was safe, that they'd have aired that (or been allowed to do so). Also, good heavens, either both Jamie and Adam, as well as those volunteers they got, are really bad drivers or something fishy's up with driving lessons in the US.
Have you not notice the amount of people that are with earbuds in listening to music while driving is that not more dangerous than phone because you are blocking the ear's and can't hear what is happening outside the car someone might showt
One important note - talking on the phone with handsfree while driving being dangerous is not a myth, but a fact confirmed by research.
U have to take Ur hands n mind off Ur driving Ur mind is somewhere else it's w the fone u look at it n u press buttons n off m on ..iv watched people constantly look at their fones press buttons. Taking w someone n the car u stop n don't look at them .iv been driving many many yrs. It is not safe even with hands free
ok
its not the talking that kills, its writing fucking texts and checking insta...
That would mean that you cannot talk to anyone in your car also.. And that includes the wife and the children.. Good luck with that one. ! Because if you're hands free then you can talk to those that are either in the car or not, Otherwise it makes no sense.
This would also mean that you cannot talk to the taxi driver.. like saying pull over here or can you take me too...Instead of such and such place.. IT'S BONKERS.
There is a big difference in a mom or a so called Sunday driver out and about who are not that good at concentration. Say compared to a professional driver.
It will also mean the the fire brigade cannot talk while on route to a disaster and plan ahead of what to do before getting there, and this will mean the POLICE ALSO CANNOT HAVE a chit chat either on radio while chasing other cars, or anything else..
The Idiots in charge have NOT THOUGHT THIS THROUGH PROPERLY..
Use you mirrors! W T F do you think they are there? (HGV driver, 40+ years)
Those tests for driving on the phone are beyond stupid. NO ONE has conversations like that while driving. Also, hands free driving and talking is NO DIFFERENT than talking to a passenger. So it's a biased test. HEAVILY biased.
i think the idea behind the different questions is to activate different parts of the brain simulating something like getting bad news over the phone or something
Talking to a passenger *is different* to someone hands free on the phone. If you're driving into a busy environment or need to follow the satnav, the passenger can see this happening and stop speaking. The person on the phone can't see this and so won't stop asking you what you want for dinner, and telling you you're out of whatever your first choice was and need to decide on something else. They can't see that if you go quiet it's because a pedestrian is just stepped into the road, and so they'll ask if you're still there (thinking it cut out) expecting a response right when you need to be paying your full attention on that pedestrian, etc. A passenger in that situation would probably draw attention to the pedestrian, even if it's just to call them stupid or something. It's all the difference that's needed to make it a potentially significantly less dangerous situation.
Talking on a hands free device is no more distracting than having a passenger.
Mythbusters are rule the worlds cool big fans my name is Andrew le cao 27 can be friends like Mythbusters