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Driving While Distracted More Dangerous Than Supposed
Science News reports on recent research indicating that any kind of multitasking while driving is dangerous. Not just the obvious distraction of juggling a cell phone, but even talking to a passenger or listening to a book on tape. The researchers used a driving simulator inside an MRI machine to measure brain activations. "Attending to what someone says galvanizes language-related brain areas while simultaneously reducing activity in spatial regions that coordinate driving behavior. This finding suggests that people who combine relatively automatic tasks, such as speech comprehension and car driving, exceed a biological limit on the amount of systematic brain activity they can accommodate at one time, the researchers propose. As a result, the less-ingrained skill — in this case, driving, which is learned long after a person grasps a native language — takes a neural hit."
Even so there are levels of risk that are acceptable. Life is risky but we take the risk of taking a shower knowing that we may slip and fall and become injured or die as a result. We drive because going somewhere is worth the risk of having an accident. We listen to books on tape or the radio because the risk of being to distracted is better than being bored. We talk on the cell phone because the communication is worth the risk. These risks are manageable but a life without risk is not worth living. Get over it already. OH, and we eat food at the risk of getting food poisoning because it is better than dying of starvation. However if you don't want to risk it perhaps the world is better off without another idiot.
I'm totally against (hands full) cellphone calls while driving. I really don't care if somebody wrecks his or her car against a tree while calling and breaks all the bones in their body, but there are other people on the road aswell.
When on the road there is only one thing that is important and that is safety.
Privacy is terrorism.
By that logic ... I've been driving drunk for years, and am good at it, so clearly it is ok for me to drive drunk.
XML causes global warming.
In my experience, yes. Also, the amount of background noise makes a difference. Following a conversation inside a car while the radio is on is more difficult (to me) than having that conversation in a quiet room.
Last year I visited some friends in the UK. English is my second language, and I've no trouble understanding any of them (various regional accents notwithstanding). But in a crowded restaurant, I found I could only understand half of what was being said.
I thought that too, but I think he's made a good point. Perhaps his driving while listen to audio books is less attentive than it would be without for short journeys but on long monotonous journeys, your attention can just as easily wander, or you can get sleepy and your attention will be even worse than if your mind is being stimulated by more than just the driving. Personally, the only accidents (not serious ones, just bumper scuffles, two of which were shortly after I learned to drive, and one of which was about 5 minutes after I woke up.. :s ) I've had were when passengers were present. I do tend to rush more if I have passengers too, because I feel a responsibility to get people to their destination quickly, when I'm driving around town by myself I tend to chill out and just enjoy my music.
I do lots of observation while driving - frequent mirror checks at all 'hazards' (you should be checking your rearview mirror every 10 seconds anyway - that sounds like a lot but it isn't once you do it automatically, and it keeps you aware of what's going on around you in case you need to break suddenly or something like that). The checks are all pretty much built in now, I remember a few times that I've just stopped mid sentence while speaking to someone because I'm approaching a 'hazard' and need to concentrate more on my driving: I learned the police 'Roadcraft' System of Car Control on an advanced driving course a few months ago, and I highly recommend any such courses (mine included defensive driving, skid control and a more rigourous driving test than the standard UK driving test) to people to improve their driving and make even those times when you're driving on 'autopilot' safer.. though it's never really a good thing to let yourself drift into that kind of state while controlling over a ton of metal moving at speed!
which is totally what she said
You know, SUVs are not the problem. The people behind the wheel are the problem. Most SUVs are worth jack shit and most people who buy them are too stupid to know this. They're purchased by women who feel disempowered and by men who don't want to be seen in a minivan, which would suit their needs better in about 99% of the cases - and just to back that up, sans lift kit an Astro AWD will go places that 4WD pickups get stuck. I can drive an SUV without killing anyone, but I don't, because they're stupid.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Another way to look at this is to ask what was done in the study? Did they look at long trips, or just take short samples?
I was curious, so I went and read the article...
One minute trips!
Also take note of the fact that the participants were laying down and driving with a mouse. So pretty much this is nothing at all like driving.
After conducting a lame study like that, they concluded with some idle speculation:
Yeah - um. Probably.
This was at Carnegie Mellon, and it's reported in what looks to be a respectable science magazine. Worse yet, this is the kind of stuff that drives public policy.
What a joke. Sorry to rant - you can look at my history and see it's not my usual MO. But sheesh. Come on.
Custom, hands-free Linux installs. Instalinux
Changing gear isn't much different from using your indicators once you are used to it - really. You don't have to look at the gearstick or even take your hand off of the wheel for more than half a second to a second. Sometimes I do rest my hand on the gearstick rather than keep both on the wheel, though that's just a bad habit, and I'm sure drivers of automatic cars don't keep both hands on the wheel at all times either.
If you had to answer general knowledge questions asked by your gearstick to get it to change gear then I could see it being a bit of a distraction, but in reality I, and probably most other drivers in the UK who have passed their test, move up through the gears literally without even thinking about it. If you're used to an automatic then obviously it will take quite an adjustment to drive 'stick', but in that case you just need practice. Don't forget that you have to use the clutch pedal at the same time as doing all this. But just the same as you don't have to think about where your feet are when accelerating and braking (at least I hope you don't otherwise your reactions in an emergency are going to be severely impaired), you don't think about the clutch or gear shift when changing a gear, so it isn't a distraction. There is a period of adjustment for using a different gearshift as the gating on each one can be pretty different, and some cars have a 6th gear where other cars would have reverse and stuff like that, but again that quickly just becomes second nature, like someone learning how to touch type in Dvorak instead of Qwerty, only a lot quicker and simpler!
I will however admit that I often change the volume on my stereo, though again I don't need to look at that, and most of the time I'd do it while stopped at lights anyway. There was one time about a year ago I was trying to find a track on a CD and realised I hadn't noticed a car coming over the ridge ahead of me - that was enough to scare me into being more sensible when it comes to in depth stereo fiddling (if I have a passenger I'd ask them to do it)
which is totally what she said