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"Supertaskers" Can Safely Use Mobile Phones While Driving
nk497 writes "While most of us are dangerous when texting, chatting on a phone or being otherwise distracted while driving, one in 40 are actually just fine with such distractions. In a small study, such 'supertaskers' were just as good at driving when carrying on a conversation over a hands-free phone as they were when fully focused. That said, the researchers warned that most people are much worse at driving while chatting and shouldn't do it, adding: 'Given the number of individuals who routinely talk on the phone while driving, one would have hoped that there would be a greater percentage of supertaskers.'"
That 1 in 40 aside, reader crimeandpunishment writes "The US Transportation Department is calling for a permanent ban on texting while driving, for interstate truck and bus drivers. An interim ban has been in place since January. The government says it is doing everything it can to make roads safer by reducing the threat of distracted drivers."
That's not necessarily a supertasker - that's being well trained and experienced.
Wha, you don't know about 9600 BAUD modem-based gateways used to submit comments to slashdot?
If he gets disconnected in the middle of typing, it disconnects, to avoid loss of the message, the other side of the gateway dutifully posts it, including the last bit of noise, and the 'NO CARRIER' error reported by the modem.
Another fun thing to do with those gateways is to post the following on every slashdot comment,
+++ATH0
+++ATH0
FB GUR SRYYBJF HFVAT PURNC XABPX-BSS ZBQRZF GUNG PNA'G VZCYRZRAG CNGRAGRQ +++ QRYNL GRPUABYBTL, JVYY OR QVFPBAARPGRQ ORSBER GURL PNA SVAVFU ERNQVAT LBHE TYBEVBHF PBZZRAG.
CYNPR GUNG FGEVAT ORSBER NAL FRPERG GRKG GBB, CERSRENOYL FGEBATYL RAPELCGRQ.
SFV LZWF JWSDDQ UGFXMKW LZWE, TQ FWYSLANW 8-KZAXLAFY LZW EGKL AEHGJLSFL LWPL
It's not too small, they just picked the sensationalist conclusion. Turn the number around and you have a conclusion that aligns with real world experience - 97.5% of people suffer a deteriation in driving skill while texting. Given that statistic the other 2.5% would need to show no effect over multiple trials to demonstrate it wasn't just dumb luck.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Reductio absurdium? Yeah, I'm sure I've got that wrong, but you get the idea. If you're sitting at a desk, banging away on a keyboard, only some absurd set of circumstances can possibly enable you to injure or kill someone with your crummy typing.
Even if you ARE a super geek, and even if you can multitask better than Windows, Linux, and OS X combined, you have a RESPONSIBILITY to put all your silly shit aside, and pay attention to your driving, so that you DO NOT injure or kill someone.
Phrased in a much more direct manner, Pull your head out of your ass, and get your priorities straight!
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
It's good you explained that joke, I might have missed it otherwise.
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett