SUV soccer moms on cellphones inspire highway terror

A Reuters report out of Washington released yesterday (June 21, 2005) confirmed our worst fears about why seeing an SUV in the rearview mirror full of kids with a soccer mom at the wheel talking on a cellphone inspires terror. The report says that using a cellphone -- even with a hands-free device -- may distract drivers because the brain cannot handle both tasks. Imaging tests conducted by a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found showed that "the brain directs its resources to either visual input or auditory input, but cannot fully activate both at the same time." Read more here. [Cellphone SUV crash, pictured right]