It's exactly this sort of misleading reporting that perpetuates ignorance. IF the article contents are correct then the study says nothing about talking on the phone. It only compares dialing to other short term tasks. Using handheld mobile phones were banned, because of the long distracting conversations people have while driving one handed.
I'm getting a bit fed up with INQs headlines, which are usually incomprehensible and increasingly inaccurate. Do I trust the accuracy of articles anymore? Surely this is a geeks site, for people who I imagine would appreciate important details, not a tadbloid newspaper looking for sound bites.

Was this using steering wheel mounted stereo controls? I find they make a big difference.

Was changing songs harder than lighting and smoking?

Was this a simple "next song" flick on steering wheel, or a change cd and pick the song by xxxx on the various artists album which means looking at the inlay card?

Well, what was it, because these are all very different but the report could mean any of them.

Anyways, nice info.

So basically this study proves that people are less distracted when the perform a task that they have done two or three hundred times before. Kind of like asking people to compare riding a bicycle then asking them to ride a unicycle don't you think?

So they came up with a study to proove that people should buy their software...

It's very easy to spot a driver when they are on a mobile phone, they are deffiatly not safer than a driver who is concentrating on diving!
When a car drifts out of his lane its either because he is Italian or he is holding a phone in one hand and changing gear with the other.
And I bet most of you would rather have a 40 tonne truck following you with a driver with both hands on the wheel, than chatting to his mates, (hands free phone's if used are a different story)


dont ya just lurrrrrrrrrv these trully ultruistic companys for funding research that benefits mankind, errrrrrrrm personkind/peoplekind (got to be politically correct :O) )

Nuance lol, aka "dragon naturally speaking" fame, perveyors of hands free speech recognition software, no conflict of interest there then is there O_o

hmmmmmmmm, i seem to remember ciggy makers spending mega bucks on *cough, 'independent' research over a decade proving there was NO connection between smoking and lung cancer :O)