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Hands-Free Or Voice-Activated Texting Not Safer
Meshach writes "A recent study (PDF) detailed in the Washington Post verifies that using hands-free or voice-activated texting is no safer than texting with your hands while you are driving a car. Using a handheld device to tap out a text message while driving has been banned in many states and provinces. From the article: '"One of the common comments was that they felt an inclination to look down at the screen to see if it heard them correctly, so that could be one possible explanation of why they were not looking at the roadway more frequently," Yager said. She said drivers said they felt safer when using voice-activated texting than when entering messages on a keyboard. "Perhaps it is because they view it as safer and therefore it must be, but still they have this inclination to look down at the screen," she said. "We found that their driving performance suffered equally with both methods." As has been proven in studies of cellphone conversations, Yager said drivers engaged in any form of texting were distracted by the communication effort.'"
If only there was a way to communicate in real time, via 2 way voice...
Someday.... someday...
Place nail here >+
The brain can multitask 4 things at any one time, driving a car uses most of the brain's abilities. You throw another distraction into the mix and you're basically 'driving impaired'. I've been a passenger while the driver was engrossed in a hands free conversation staring at his phone on the seat while making his point. I say, "brake... brake.... BRAKE!!!" until he looks up and avoids slamming into the slowed car in front of us.
Everyone thinks they are the best driver in the world until they aren't. Safely pull over somewhere before you use any electronic gizmo, reach for the item you dropped. Graveyards are filled with too many who died for dumb actions while driving.
In response to a big push by LEO in CA on the cell phone laws, I recently got one of those dorky 90's dash mounts for my phone. it's great because the phone is pretty much in my line of sight, but it's still distracting to activate the voice sms dictation. So I would say it's MUCH better than doing it by hand, but still not as good as not doing it!
Yep, driving while slightly less distracted is still driving distracted. All it takes is one of those morons who changes lanes without a signal or believes passing with no room to spare will work because you'll see them and you're sunk. Doesn't matter who is right or wrong, if you could have avoided it you could have avoided having your car towed off and dealing with the logistics of being without it. Assuming you survive.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
What did cyclists, pedestrians and other drivers think?
The surviving ones, I mean.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
This is why I tell my kids, that driving takes 100% concentration. That while most of the time, 50-80% is usually good enough, you can't predict when the asshole in the left lane is going to swerve right three lanes because he is about to miss his exit, because he was too busy getting a BJ from his boyfriend or talking/txting/watching a video on a cell phone.
The point is, it doesn't matter what the other guy is doing, he is the danger. If you're 100% concentrating on driving you have a much better chance of avoiding the accident. AND that is worth everything.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Voice, bluetooth, text, handheld, hendsfree, VoiceToText.....screw you.
As someone who is waiting on a (too small) settlement check for my destroyed vehicle, all I can say is put the fucking phone away and drive the damn car.
Texting teen blows a red light at 60, and I'm lucky the only thing destroyed was my vehicle. I am still vertical and breathing.
Hanging upside down from the seatbelt, covered in broken glass was not the way I wanted to spend the afternoon.