"Jay Honeck" wrote

Some of the worst accidents I've witnessed were caused by the driver
simply looking at his passenger while talking to them. (One of my pet
peeves, BTW. I had a coworker who simply HAD to look at you while
talking, even while driving in Chicago traffic. I finally refused to
ride with him.)

I have a theory that this behavior is responsible for why some people have
such a hard time talking on a cell phone while they are driving.

The human mind takes in many factors while carrying on a conversation.
Facial expressions, body language, a bit of lip reading to make the
conversation even clearer to perceive.

Take that all away by talking on the cell phone, and you have a brain that
is trying so hard to fill in the blanks, and imagine how the other person is
reacting, that it has a difficult time thinking about the driving, too.

You (and most people) can drive down the road and talk to someone very
safely, without looking at them, except for perhaps seeing the other person
out of the corner of the eye, or a quick glance at key points in the
conversation.

Take that away, and the person automatically goes into stupid driver on the
phone, as the brain tries to make the conversation #1 on the processor
usage! g
--
Jim in NC