Students Answer Cell Phone Question

By Beth O’Malley, The Sedalia Democrat, Sedalia, Mo.

May 13–Who is more likely to be jabbering on a cell phone behind the wheel — men or women?

To answer that question, a Smith-Cotton High School class turned lunch time drivers at Broadway Boulevard and South Ohio Avenue into unwitting guinea pigs in an experiment Friday.

The students in Steve Schilb’s sociology class counted the number of male and female drivers talking on cell phones.

Students in the class were discussing social problems earlier this semester, and one mentioned drivers talking on cell phones.

Kelly Leak, 18, a junior, thought more women would be on their phones, “because women seem to socialize more.”

Junior Heather Ventura, 17, said, “I think more men” would be on the phone because “men are more aggressive drivers, so they don’t feel the need to pay as much attention.”

Groups of students stood on each corner for 40 minutes counting cars and chatty drivers as they passed.

Some drivers waved to students; others were oblivious, staring at the signal lights.

Harley Corpier, 17, a junior, said he saw one driver picking his teeth with one hand while holding a cell phone with his shoulder.

It was better that the drivers didn’t know they were part of an experiment. “That way they can be natural,” Mr. Corpier said.

So what did the students find?

Fifty-two women were on the phone, while 47 men were talking and driving.

The class estimated 1,400 cars passed on Broadway and Ohio in 40 minutes, which would mean about 7 percent of drivers were on cell phones.

That’s about 1 percent more than the nationwide average in 2005, according to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study.

The study found that 8 percent of women drove while holding a cell phone, while 5 percent of men did.

omalley@sedaliademocrat.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sedalia Democrat, Sedalia, Mo.

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