Dr Natasha Serat of the Institute for Transport Studies at Leeds University illustrated how there is a 'massive' drop in peripheral vision when a driver is concentrating on a conversation on a hands-free phone.
The study was carried out by measuring the eye movements of drivers in real traffic situations at a particular junction, with and without the distraction of talking on the phone.
Dr Serat said there were differences between visual distractions where a driver looks away from the road and 'minds off the road' distractions even while watching the road ahead.
"Although you are watching where you are going, you may not see the car preparing to enter the road in front of you, or a pedestrian preparing to cross," said Dr Serat, who is an Associate Professor at the Transport Institute and leads the Safety & Technology Group at the facility.
The Forum was held at Dublin's RDS headquarters, and was sponsored by Continental Ireland. It included a presentation by Dr Pim van der Jagt, Head of Ford's Engineering and Advanced Research facility at Aachen, Germany.
(This is one of a series of stories we are running based on the 2013 IMWA/Continental Forum.)
