A new study completed at Drexel University has confirmed what many owners of iTrips and cassette adapters have already realized: that futzing with your iPod while driving really isn't a good idea.
In fact, the Drexel research team — led by Dario Salvucci, a computer scientist — concluded that switching songs on an iPod is just as distracting to a driver as, say, dialing a cellphone. Mercifully, Mr. Salvucci conducted the study by putting students in a driving simulator, not by turning them loose on the highway.
It's not exactly man-bites-dog news that multitasking behind the wheel is unsafe, but plenty of people remain interested in studies like Mr. Salvucci's: The National Science Foundation helped pay for the research, according to The Triangle, Drexel's student newspaper. –Brock Read
