Google announced today it’ll send traffic maps to your cell phone. Interesting technology, given the studies that show using cell phones while driving is dangerous. Even hands-free mobile phones put drivers at greater risk.

You can already get maps in your car of course, via other services. And then there are regular old radios, iPod enabled music stations and even DVD players. Researchers say these, too, may prove fatally distracting.

As I type this on my expandable mobile-phone keyboard while doing 75 on I-17 Southbound (okay, not really) I’m imagining a driver flipping through his music libarary and watching a movie while chatting with his wife and checking for the red zones that indicate traffic backups, then really having to multi-task in order to map-surf for alternative routes.

Look for all of this to change for some drivers. Some companies are forbidding their employees from using cell phones while driving.