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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