题型：阅读理解 题类：常考题 难易度：普通
山西省2020届高三下学期英语开学摸底考试卷
Driving while talking on the phone increases the likelihood of an accident and is actually more dangerous than driving drunk, U.S. researchers report. This holds true whether the driver is holding a cell phone or using a hands⁃free device.
"As a society, we have agreed on not tolerating the risk associated with drunk driving," said researcher Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Utah." This study shows us that somebody who is conversing on a cell phone is exposing him or herself and others to a similar risk — cell phones actually are a higher risk," he said.
In the study, 40 people followed a pace car along a prescribed course, using a driving simulator (模拟仪). Some people drove while talking on a cell phone, others drove while drunk (meaning their blood-alcohol limit matched the legal limit of 0.08 percent), and others drove with no such distractions. The researchers found an increased accident rate when people were conversing on the cell phone. Drivers on cell phones were 5.36 times more likely to get in an accident.
The bottom line: Cell⁃phone use was linked to" a significant increase in the accident rate," Drews said.
The phone users did even worse than the inebriated, the Utah team found. There were three accidents among those talking on cell phones — all of them involving a rear⁃ending (追尾) of the pace car. In contrast, there were no accidents recorded among participants who were drunk.
In response to safety concerns, some states have declared it illegal to use hand⁃held cell phones while driving. But that type of law may not be effective, because the Utah researchers found no difference in driver performance whether the driver was holding the phone or talking on a hands⁃free model.
"We have seen again and again that there is no difference between hands⁃free and hand⁃held devices," Drews said." The problem is the conversation. The best solution to the problem is obvious: Don't talk on the phone while you are driving."
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