When something grabs your attention away from the road, your control suffers — and the results can be measured. In one experiment, participants rode a cone-lined bicycle course under three conditions: sober with no phone, sober while talking on a hands-free phone, and after drinking to the legal blood-alcohol limit of 0.08 percent. Riders using a phone knocked down slightly more cones on average than those who were intoxicated. A hands-free call can split your focus enough to impair control more than moderate alcohol does.