MythBusters Test a Law That Half The Country Disagrees With | MythBusters

Driving is a complex task that requires full attention, yet many everyday scenarios and cinematic tropes suggest otherwise. The MythBusters team, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, put two such ideas to the test: the perceived safety of hands-free phone use compared to handheld, and the feasibility of high-speed, evasive reverse driving as often depicted in movies.

Hands-Free vs. Handheld: Is There a Difference?

The debate around cell phone use while driving often centers on whether hands-free devices truly mitigate the risks associated with handheld phones. Many laws prohibit holding a phone, implying that hands-free is a safer alternative. However, a persistent myth suggests that the cognitive distraction remains the same, regardless of how the phone is held. To investigate this, the MythBusters designed a controlled driving course with the help of driving expert Dave Thornton. The course included a slalom for steering ability, an offset lane for braking, and a T-box, all designed to challenge a driver's focus. Adam and Jamie were kept in the dark about the course layout to prevent any pre-existing knowledge from skewing the results.

Adam first tackled the course while holding a phone, answering a series of cognitively demanding questions ranging from general knowledge to arithmetic and logic puzzles. The questions were specifically chosen to activate different parts of the brain, forcing the driver to multitask. The results were clear: Adam's driving performance was severely compromised. He struggled with steering, braking, and maintaining a clear path, frequently clipping cones and exhibiting erratic behavior. His verbal responses were also marked by pauses and requests for repetition, indicating significant cognitive overload. Jamie, observing from mission control, noted Adam's struggles, confirming that even though Adam answered most questions correctly, the effort required was substantial and detrimental to his driving.

Adam then repeated the test hands-free in a different vehicle (due to an issue with the first car). While his driving improved, he felt the cognitive distraction remained just as high. He attributed the better performance to increased familiarity with the course. To account for this learning bias, Jamie performed his runs in the inverse order, starting hands-free and then moving to handheld. Jamie's hands-free performance was notably poor, with numerous errors and significant distraction. His subsequent handheld run, while still a failure, showed a slight improvement, reinforcing the idea that course familiarity played a role. When the data from both Adam and Jamie were averaged to remove the learning bias, the scores for hands-free and handheld driving were nearly identical, suggesting that the cognitive load, and thus the danger, is comparable. However, the MythBusters acknowledged that their initial course was not entirely realistic, lacking real-world traffic and involving only two highly trained drivers, prompting a need for further, more sophisticated testing.