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CONTRARY to popular belief, drivers using hands-free speakerphones are more likely to be distracted than those using other types of mobile. Roland Matthews at Massey University in New Zealand gave drivers either a standard mobile phone, a mobile with an earpiece, or a mobile connected to a microphone and speaker built into the car. He then phoned the drivers as they negotiated a stretch of road and asked them to repeat words played to them. When Matthews assessed drivers on how well they understood the words, he found that those using hands-free phones with external speakers fared worst and also became the most frustrated (Accident Analysis and Prevention, vol 857, p 1). This distraction makes them more likely to have accidents than drivers using other phones, he says.