Plenty of research shows otherwise. While in-person conversations are not completely innocent, the typical degree is quite different.
Lots of research suggests that in-person is a lot less distracting than phone conversations. I haven't seen formal explanations. One factor may be that when a person is in the car with you, they tend to have an eye out for what is going on, and will shut up if something comes up which requires the driver's attention. Another is that one tends to be focused on the phone conversation (no long silences) whereas the conversations with another person in the car are on and off. I personally find phone conversations over my car's hands-free system much more distracting than talking to same person when they are a passenger, but I cannot put my finger on exactly why.
Very good point; this theory seems most plausible to me. I had my cell phone connected to my motorcycle communication system for a while, but noticed decreased confidence while riding, even with light conversation and easy traffic. Just a few conversations made me decide people can wait to talk to me when I'm on the bike. To give anecdotal evidence to your theory, I had a near catastrophe the other night while driving my truck with 2 passengers. We had conversation off and on while I drove a logging road in the snow. On the descent, I saw a curve coming up and gently applied brakes in anticipation. The truck just slid without slowing much, if at all. Trying to feather the brakes was pointless as there was simply no traction, and then the rear end stepped out at a 45 degree angle. Beyond the curve was a a very steep hill that would have certainly caused a runaway truck to tumble for a hundred meters or more. Just a moment before going off the road, I remembered I had the truck in 2nd gear to engine brake, and that it was contributing to the loss of traction. After quickly shifting into neutral, the rear end hooked back up and I was able to negotiate the corner, just barely. Afterwards, the passengers spoke up saying they thought there was no way we would make it. It struck me that there was dead silence during the whole 8 seconds or so that I was out of control. I expected to hear screaming or shouting, but perhaps they knew that I needed full concentration and zero distractions. I'd be curious to know what would have happened if it was a phone conversation I was having. Maybe my reactions would have been slowed by the few milliseconds of margin I had, or maybe my mind wouldn't have been able to come up with the solution of shifting to neutral.
It was a decent job. I looked inside where the 12V battery is and it's clean. The repair is also covered by a 2 year warranty.
Now, if people stop hitting the car, I'll be ok. The right hand mirror was broken in a parking lot back in August. I bought a used one off eBay and put it on myself.
Next time you have a nice clear day with the sun shining brightly, check to make sure the blend lines are nice if there are any. From a couple feet away, most repairs can look pretty decent. Get up close or in the right light, and you can tell. The sooner you check it out the easier it will be for them to agree and fix any potential problems instead of blaming it on you. Glad you are OK and it looks great from hundreds of miles away.
