A recent study completed at the University of Utah Applied Cognition Lab reached the conclusion that drivers should focus on the road and not on their mobile phone conversations, even if they are conducted through a hands-free kit.

The conclusions were presented in the Journal of Experimental Psychology and the study involved 96 adults in 48 pairs, placed in a driving simulator for 10 minutes, while talking on the phone, talking to their partner and also while driving in silence.

During the time spent on the phone, drivers were more likely to enter other lanes, get dangerously close to the vehicle in front and miss their exits. While talking to their partners, the process went significantly smoother. According to the results, talking on a cell phone is a whole lot worse than chatting with a passenger, but having a passenger while talking on the phone helps, as the reactions to the road conditions of the one sitting in the right contributes to the driver’s focus.

"We think it is basically a process of joint attention, so when you have a person sitting next to you who is experienced as a driver, that person actually understands something about traffic, supports you actively in dealing with traffic," explained study author Frank Drews, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Still, the main thing that needs to be considered is the fact that Bluetooth or any other kind of hands-free technology is just as dangerous as holding a device, because the attention is distributed in a similar manner between following the road and following the conversation.