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Another Study Confirms Hands-Free Texting While Driving Is Unsafe
schwit1 writes with a followup to a story we discussed in April about how using voice-activated texting while driving was no safer than using your hands. Now, a study by AAA has found that using voice commands to send texts is more dangerous than simply talking on your cellphone.
"Texting a friend verbally while behind the wheel caused a 'large' amount of mental distraction compared with 'moderate/significant' for holding a phone conversation or talking with a passenger and 'small' when listening to music or an audio book, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found in a report released today. Automakers have promoted voice-based messaging as a safer alternative to taking hands off the wheel to place a call and talk on a handheld phone. About 9 million infotainment systems will be shipped this year in cars sold worldwide, with that number projected to rise to more than 62 million by 2018, according to a March report by London-based ABI Research. 'As we push towards these hands-free systems, we may be solving one problem while creating another,' said Joel Cooper, a University of Utah assistant research professor who worked on the study. 'Tread lightly. There's a lot of rush to develop these systems.' The findings from the largest U.S. motorist group bolster National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman's call to ban all phone conversations behind the wheel, even with hands-free devices."
And in other news, water is wet, and jumping off a tall building is a "bad idea."
Autocorrect.
And other research shows that the sky is blue when It's daytime and there are no clouds. What does it take to convince people? Especially people stupid enough to text while driving?
Look, folks, a text isn't like a phone call. It's like email. That goddamned text will wait until you're stopped.
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Well if you are Talking in the car with a passenger, he can tell you, Dude you need to stop your car. Vs talking to some one who doesn't have a stake in your driving safety (and can't know if he does).
I just recently got in an accident. I have a hands free unit. The phone rang, and the split second it took me to read who it was on the dashboard was long enough for me not to keep my eyes on the road to see the car in front of me doing a quick stop.
I didn't even pick up the phone, I was just wondering who it was, and it showed right on the dashboard.
If I am driving and someone is with me, and I get too distracted, or when I am riding with someone and see that they are about to do something dangerious. I can say, Hey the car is stopping!.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Do we need a another study to say that people who are paying attention to something other than driving while on the road is dangerous. It amazes me how people do not take driving seriously when it has consistently been a leading cause of early death in this country.
What is more dangerous is having stupid people driving..... period. Whether they are texting, juggling, talking on the phone, or playing PS3. Especially when they try to merge onto a 65 MPH freeway going 30 MPH.
sudo make me a sandwich
Are we talking vapid pop music, idiot morning DJ's, or "stimulating" discussions on Public Radio? My gut tells me that these aren't equally distracting. Additionally, what qualifies as "listening" to radio. There are some people who sing along to songs on the radio, or switch stations constantly. Is this what the experiment simulated, or did people just drive while passively listening?
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And how is that situation any different than looking down at the clock on your dashboard? Or the radio? Or the fuel gauge or speedometwr?
Remember last time when Texas A&M did this? They asked people to LOOK AT THE PHONES AND MAKE SURE THE TEXT WAS CORRECT. Of course it's more distracting. I don't know the details of this study, TFA is light on details and direction (though it mentions the A&M study).
In case no one here was aware - doing anything other than driving, when you're driving, means you aren't driving at 100%/
So then why aren't the same people trying to banning dashboard gauges, clocks and radios?
One of 2 reasons for your accident.
1. You took longer than you think to read the name.
2. You were following too closely.
Answer is most likely 2. People follow MUCH too closely nowadays.
Slashdot is like Playboy: I read it for the articles
I have no interested in texting and driving. But, I can't help but wonder if these hands free capabilities were easier to use if the outcome of this study would have been different. I have two cars with voice recognition capabilities. One, works pretty well. The other is so difficult to use I would never use it while driving. If using hands free technologies were like having a conversation with someone sitting beside you, I would think the level of distraction would be significantly less than is currently the case. Maybe we just aren't there yet.
Several ways. First, looking at the clock, radio, speedometer, etc is done at a time convenient for and chosen by the driver. There is no sense of urgency about it - it is not an interrupt. Most drivers are not going to be looking at those things except for when it is relatively safe to do so. On the other hand, many (most?) people treat an incoming phone call or text as something that must be dealt with RIGHT NOW.
Secondly, looking at those other things takes very little thought, and thus causes very little distraction. Reading a phone number or name takes a lot more thought, and distracts you for a longer period of time.
No it wouldn't. have a look at this guy.
Besides, this is about TEXTING. Yes, phones are dangerous but texting is moronically dangerous. If you dumb kids don't stop it, before you know it they'll mandate measures to disable cell phones in cars, and then even your passengers won't be able to phone, text, or google. Look at "open container" laws, if idiots didn't drink and drive, the passengers could have a beer.
So just stop it!
Free Martian Whores!
How do you get that practice?
And how is that situation any different than looking down at the clock on your dashboard? Or the radio? Or the fuel gauge or speedometwr?
It isn't. He was tailgating and doesn't want to change the way he drives. I've known multiple habitual tailgaters who have totaled cars and they always have an excuse for driving right into another vehicle. I've yet to see one change to even a normal following distance, much less the recommended one of three seconds.
Like drunk driving, I would like to see that laws punish those that actually cause damage, not just arbitrarily set rules and regulation. If someone is driving recklessly, I don't care if they are distracted or just don't know how to drive, they should be ticketed. Why should a attentive reckless driver be treated better than a distracted driver. If someone gets into an auto incident because they are drunk or because they are texting, then assign the blame completely on them. Sure the other party might have done something wrong, but in most situations it is two way street. Both drivers have to be aware so that when mistakes are made, which we all do, everyone is aware enough to avoid the incident. If someone dies as a result, and it is not the distracted driver, then manslaughter charges and prison time should be the norm. Not wasting cops time setting up roadblocks to punish drivers that are otherwise safe.
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Does "dear aunt let's set so double the killer delete select all" sound familiar to you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y_Jp6PxsSQ
They should. They should also ban any communication devices at all, for everyone. No more phones or radios for cops or truck drivers. What's so special about them that it's OK for them to spread death all over the road?
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Several ways. First, looking at the clock, radio, speedometer, etc is done at a time convenient for and chosen by the driver. There is no sense of urgency about it - it is not an interrupt. Most drivers are not going to be looking at those things except for when it is relatively safe to do so. On the other hand, many (most?) people treat an incoming phone call or text as something that must be dealt with RIGHT NOW.
Secondly, looking at those other things takes very little thought, and thus causes very little distraction. Reading a phone number or name takes a lot more thought, and distracts you for a longer period of time.
Ooh ooh I know this one.
Set the NMI flag in your CPU control register and don't worry about interrupts.
So then why aren't the same people trying to banning dashboard gauges, clocks and radios?
Because they aren't new fangled technology and trying to blame them won't work because they're not new and scary.
More Twoson than Cupertino
You might want to read a comment or two before jumping in, trying to get first post, and making yourself look like an utter fool.
Free Martian Whores!
If my wife texts me while im in the car Ill engage Siri and voice text back. However, if it doesnt work exactly right on the first try, i give up until i can pull over. I found i was dedicating too much brain power trying to correct it. I also make sure i fully form the message in my head before i engage Siri
Good-bye
As a person who drives a lot for work and has to be always available to answer a phone call, I do use my cell-phone A LOT while driving. Texting while driving is the worst idea ever especially with touchscreens - a person actually needs to look at what he or she touches. I, personally, miss calls and don't answer texts (thank Android for speech recognition) if it is not safe.
I also can see why law is in place. Mostly because of teenagers who don't have proper driving skills but possess texting addictions.
A sandwich is a handheld device but nobody is banning food in the vehicles. They should. Some people would benefit from that.
Use the cellphone or not while driving it is always your judgement call.
It's completely logical.
Your passenger, like you, has a significant interest in surviving your trip, and will tend to react by quieting down when you're in a tough spot, or help you out with a "Watch out!" if you're about to, say, pull into an occupied lane next to you.
The person on the other end of the phone, by contrast, isn't there with you and has no understanding of your current situation.
The basic thing to understand, though, about why hands-free makes no significant difference is that it's not the driver's hands or eyes that are the limiting factor, it's the driver's brain.
I am officially gone from
I don't know about you, but whenever I use the voice-to-text capabilities in android there are multiple wrong words. Given that, I'd be willing to be that the vast majority of people would in fact check to make sure the text was correct before sending.
Because they aren't distracting. You probably check the gauges, etc dozens of times during a trip, and never even realize it. If I asked you what the gauge said a few seconds after you looked at it you could probably not even tell me. However, if you got a text or phone call, I bet I could ask you 10 minutes later and you would know exactly who it was from. In the case of gauges no real 'processing' or memory is involved - you are just looking for a quick confirmation of something, and as soon as you have that you can forget about it. Not so with texts and phone calls.
that putting your hand in hot boiling water is unsafe.
Well, if you can do that, great. Of course that means you have no reactions at all and should not be driving. So the next best thing is proposed - don't generate the interrupt in the first place.
All I really want it for is Waze and to reply "driving" anyways. I have no real interest in texting while driving. I'm mostly bitching that I can't use my Bluetooth while not driving and it instantly came to mind. Seriously - what good is a video chat if you can't hear each other?
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Stop tailgating and leave a safe distance between yourself and the car in front of you and that won't happen.
Texting, or talking, while driving is not the problem. Bad drivers are the problem. Texting and talking while driving makes bad drivers worse.
... still waiting for this free-as-in-beer free beer I keep hearing about.
Imagine driving and taking your hands off the wheel for a few seconds. Now imagine driving and closing your eyes for a few seconds.
Its a lot like speaking a second language you're not that familiar with. Your natural flow and grammar doesn't always work and the response you get back isn't always what you expect. It just takes your brain more attention to handle it.
The brain also tends to have a greater problem following dis-embodied conversation. It takes less effort to talk to someone you can see than someone you can't.
There are nuances to how the brain processes things that tend to be a surprise the more we collectively learn about it.
Any driving course will teach you how to avoid 'highway hypnosis'. If you are in a 'sterile driving environment' (ie staring straight ahead) you are doing it wrong. The correct way to fix that is to look at different things (when it is safe to do so). However, you should NOT be dedicating a significant part of your brain to that activity (like by trying to identify a bird or something). If you are texting or phoning you ARE dedicating a significant part of your brain to that activity.
Amen. The biggest problem driver I encountered this week was driving very slow and dropped from 20 mph down to 5 mph on the road. When I passed, I saw it was because they had unfolded a large map they were reading it. They had no idea what was in front of them or which way they were pointed. They were still moving when I turned.
Yup, because assholes cut in in an unsafe manner if you do leave a safe gap.
Just bad driving. If he knew that he needed to look he should have made sure he had a proper braking distance for the time it takes to check the screen. That's part of driving. Analyzing the environment and accounting for problems before they happen. My wife constantly got on me about slowing down for green lights ( I watch cross traffic and slow if it looks dangerous). One day we are driving late and I started slowing for a green light to watch cross traffic, I hit the brakes hard and a truck full on blew the light at 70 miles an hour. If I had not checked the cross traffic we would have been t-boned and our car would have taken out four drunks crossing the road. As it was the driver barely missed the drunks. Situational awareness is very important in driving.
You obviously have never been a designated driver. Passengers are just passengers. They talk and yell and scream. It's the drivers job to filter it out and to drive with enough safety margin that distractions are not a safety issue.
Many people turn down the radio when they are looking for an address. The reason is because the radio is distracting.
And that is not even active listening. It is passive listening. Yet it still is distracting.
That should be enough evidence.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
There is a way to make this much less distracting if one practices it, and it applies to other things we should be doing like looking in our mirrors as well. Glance at the mirror or instrument and immediately look back ahead. Our brain can figure out what we saw after the fact without us fixating on the scene.
... and these are the same people trying to ban the practical use of satnav devices while driving, leading to everyone reading maps in traffic.
I am sick of the automotive nanny state.
Concentration and alertness are not the same thing. The radio certainly interferes with concentration, and when you are looking for an address you are concentrating. Normal driving does not require concentration, it requires alterness. In fact, concentration interferes with alterness. One reason that beginning drivers are so bad is that they are concentrating so much on the mechanics of driving that they are not alert. There is no indication that the radio interferes with alertness.
I think the amount matters. If you are sending off one quick "running late" message and not proof-reading the text-to-speech accuracy, you are probably ok. If, however, you are texting back and forth with someone then you are much less safe and even more unsafe if you are looking at the phone to make sure that the text-to-speech program transcribed your message correctly.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Yes, and if the driver is competent he will NOT be engaging in conversation with those people.
I know this article is about hands-free, but, sadly, too many people seem to think that looking at a phone instead of the road for 15 seconds while travelling 60mph is just fine. The reality is that, in that time at that speed, you've traveled for a quarter mile. If *ANYTHING* happened in front of you during that time, you either have less time to react or no time to react. Each time you do that, you are playing Russian Roulette with your life and the lives of everyone else around you. If a text is THAT important that it can't wait, then pull over to the side of the road (or some other safe spot), type it, send it, and then start driving again. You might lose a minute or two of driving, but you'll lose a lot more than that if you get into an accident!
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
I'm by no means a pilot, but I seem to remember they have a word or phrase for this. Constantly scanning the instruments, verifying they are what they are supposed to be but already moving on to the next one before the current one has even registered.
Please talking to another personal while driving is unsafe (whether on the phone or in person). And you are never going to turn back the tide of tech with laws, adapt or die...
It's time to focus on the true problem, driving is unsafe because humans drive.
And I forgot to add that looking at texts and talking on the phone takes concentration, which interferes with alertness.
If you handle a gun, your priority is safety. Your safety and that of others. That is your first priority and the only priority.
Traffic is dangerous too, so it's the same there.
If your text messages are so important that it can't wait 10 minutes, you better be so bloody important that you can afford a driver.
Privacy is terrorism.
... makes understanding why there are people wanting no gun control easier. It is just selfish.
This is blinging
Apparently setting off extremely high-powered flashguns near the side of the road aimed at drivers -- blinding some people for significant periods of time -- is fine, since it's done for "safety". So are sending police around to make traffic stops with dazzlingly bright LED light bars.
Indeed.
I trust most people to make this distinction.
I don't trust cops to, especially when it's near the end of their quota period.
So then why aren't the same people trying to banning dashboard gauges, clocks and radios?
Because they aren't new fangled technology and trying to blame them won't work because they're not new and scary.
Plus, the gauges/clock/radio in my car don't scream at me through the sound system until I give them my attention. Nor do they require me to enter a 4 digit PIN (on a touchscreen, no less) in order to access the information they provide.
Unlike a cell phone.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
And how is that situation any different than looking down at the clock on your dashboard? Or the radio? Or the fuel gauge or speedometwr?
Several ways. First, looking at the clock, radio, speedometer, etc is done at a time convenient for and chosen by the driver. There is no sense of urgency about it - it is not an interrupt. Most drivers are not going to be looking at those things except for when it is relatively safe to do so. On the other hand, many (most?) people treat an incoming phone call or text as something that must be dealt with RIGHT NOW.
Secondly, looking at those other things takes very little thought, and thus causes very little distraction. Reading a phone number or name takes a lot more thought, and distracts you for a longer period of time.
Does not compute.
It doesn't sound like jellomizer felt he was in an unsafe driving situation, so he went ahead and to checked out the incoming caller information. He could as easily have been glancing at the satellite radio to see what artist / song name is playing now, or switching the dash display to see what his instantaneous gas mileage is at the moment. As far as he knew, this was a convenient time, so he chose to do so.
Any of these tasks would require at least as much thought as would reading a phone number/name off of a display...should they be prohibited as well? Perhaps every display in the vehicle except the speedometer and odometer should go black as soon as the wheels are rolling?
"I love animals! Some are cute, others are tasty, what's not to like?" - Betsy Schroeder, Jeopardy contestant
My guess is there isn't one -- whatever we do that increases safety today is never enough, and we're always demanding the next level of safety, chasing ever-more elusive risks and trying to eliminate them while failing to consider the costs of doing it.
no, brains are the key
Yup, because assholes cut in in an unsafe manner if you do leave a safe gap.
Ah! So instead of one unsafe driver, we now have two. Brilliant!
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
the problem with texting while driving has nothing to do with taking your hands off the wheel... it has to do with a. taking your eyes off the road to look at the texts and b. the amount of effort your brain takes away from processing road stuff to do a task. obviously A is so much worse than B... but for some reason, the study is only with regards to B... saying that the B portion of texting hands free is no better than the B portion of texting with your hands.... when of course this is ridiculous, seeing as how A is much worse than B.
I've gone through numerous BT headsets in the last couple years trying to find a headset that
A) Would allow me to talk while riding a bicycle;
B) Wouldn't cut out randomly;
C) Wasn't more hassle than simply holding my phone to my ear;
D) Could play music when not in a conversation.
Sadly, every one I've tried sucks. Your Jawbone was actually one of the worst for audio noise while riding a bicycle, not doing much better than a sharty freebie headset.
I've pretty much given up on BT/wireless headsets. Every one I've tried is pretty terrible.
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
If you dumb kids don't stop it, before you know it they'll mandate measures to disable cell phones in cars, and then even your passengers won't be able to phone, text, or google. Look at "open container" laws, if idiots didn't drink and drive, the passengers could have a beer.
That's actually the fault of the people who make the laws.
Check UIDs. I'm COLD FJORD(826450). User COID FJORD(2949869) has impersonated me. Don't confuse us if he trolls you.
To me, talking on a cell phone while driving is like reading a book that has each sentence on its own page. It doesn't flow at all, and the attention needed to splice it together takes a lot of attention from other things.
And, yes, I do talk on the phone while driving. I've never gotten into an accident from it yet.
If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
There are normally plenty of unplanned interrupts. Babies in cars cause them all the time for example. Under that reasoning, babies should be banned from cars.
It's possible that if you were distracted that easily from the road that you have to look at the phone right that second, you have some sort of neurological anomaly, for example autism spectrum where sudden actions in your periphery will instantly grab your attention. But most people aren't like this, and it isn't at all fair to make everybody else change to fit your lifestyle (brings images of schools of 500 students who ban peanut butter because of one child with peanut allergies.)
I answer my phone all the time while on the road without ever actually having to take my eyes off of the road, and I don't even use a hands free kit - I just do the whole thing by feel, and in fact it is easier to pick up a 4 ounce phone off of my dash and answer (pick up, slide my thumb - that's it) than to pick up a 32 ounce soda and then find the straw.
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autocorrect is so fast and accurate, have autocorrect drive the car while i devote full attention to my device. one side benefit is that autocorrect would have ready access to Apple maps for guidance.
... and these are the same people trying to ban the practical use of satnav devices while driving, leading to everyone reading maps in traffic.
I am sick of the automotive nanny state.
Way to fail at the take-away message. The point is that anything that distracts you from the act of driving is dangerous.
If your GPS makes it easier for you to drive and pay attention then that's great, if you are constantly taking your eyes off the road to look at the GPS because you're a useless idiot who can't navigate for more than five minutes without one then you shouldn't even have a car, much less a GPS.
Perhaps we're just not restricting driving licenses as much as we should. (Which would probably prevent myself or my Dad from driving....)
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
I trust most people to make this distinction.
I don't. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Any driving course will teach you how to avoid 'highway hypnosis'. If you are in a 'sterile driving environment' (ie staring straight ahead) you are doing it wrong. The correct way to fix that is to look at different things (when it is safe to do so). However, you should NOT be dedicating a significant part of your brain to that activity (like by trying to identify a bird or something). If you are texting or phoning you ARE dedicating a significant part of your brain to that activity.
I strongly suspect that what these studies are showing us is that most people are far worse at multi-tasking than they think.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Easy. Use handsfree texting for a couple of months so you know how it works, THEN try it behind the wheel. Of course the driver's attention was distracted... learning a new ap behind the wheel.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
That's true, but that's how it is.
Free Martian Whores!
Not if we stop voting Republicrat.
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I've tried other headsets in the past - they all fail on wind noise.
I use Cy-Fi Bluetooth speakers when I bike. Unfortunately they've quit making them, they're hard to find, and even though there's tons of Bluetooth speakers out there now unlike when these were made, none of them are bike mountable now. Sure you can do your own hacks, but built in water resistance isn't a given on the rest of them and making your own tends to limit the sound. These support calls - good enough to say "I'm on my bike, may want to call later." At which time they'll try to talk to you anyways then complain they can't hear you for crap. At which time you remind them what you said the first time. They actually sound great on the road.
I have some Plantronics stereo headphones that completely sucked balls on my Evo 4G WiMax version, despite the above Cy-Fi speakers totally rocking with them and about three different models of Jawbone doing really well with it also. They are awesome with my Evo 4G LTE. Why they sucked so bad for the last phone and not this one I don't know, could be Bluetooth version I don't know. What I do know is it's the first headset I've ever had that could work with voice commands and other calling apps, but it didn't because the microphone sucks so bad.
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This is also why gauges are often times oriented in such a way that just a quick visual scan lets your brain know "everything is ok" or "something is seriously wrong with this one." This is especially true in race cars.
There/their/they're all sound the same, as do here/hear and your/you're and many others. How can I make sure that it used the right one without looking at it?
And even if it were to allow you to keep your eyes on the road, you're still going to be somewhat distracted by the mental effort to verify that what it's reading back is in fact what you want to send.
Around here the traffic cams are overhead aiming down at an angle. I've never been dazzled by the flash from one.
There are many studies showing that the vast majority of people *suck* at multitasking.
You shouldn't be programming a satnav or messing with a paper map while driving--pull over for that. Following a route on a satnav is fine.
And how is that situation any different than looking down at the clock on your dashboard? Or the radio? Or the fuel gauge or speedometwr?
If you have to ask that question, I don't suggest chewing gum and walking at the same time.
For some odd reason this bit of illogic keeps popping up whenever people discuss TWD
It is as if the only safe way to drive is to stare straight ahead, not once ever allowing your eyes to leave the front view.
When in fact, that is a very dangerous way to drive. They used to call it "highway hypnosis". You become mesmerised, and become a rather unsafe driver.
Safe driving practice is to constantly look back and forth, in the rear view mirror, at the instrument gauges, tachometer, speedometer and other functions . Constantly, for short periods of time, as in glancing at them. The major function is looking out the front, but even then a lot of glancing from side to side.
Now on that phone, you have to activate it, and typing in it involves looking at it for relatively long periods of time. Even reading a message can take more time than should be allocated during driving. It is th exact opposite of safe driving practice. All in all, the texting becomes the dominant activity, not the driving.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
If only there were some way to send a message containing the exact audio of what you said. That way you wouldn't have to look down at your screen while typing your message. And it couldn't be mangled by some voice recognition software, requiring you to take your eyes off the road to confirm that it parsed your speech correctly. You could simply speak your message. The recipient could then listen to the audio and use his/her highly sophisticated speech recognition center of the brain to discern what it is you were trying to tell them. We could call it something like, oh I dunno, Voice Mail.
Alas, such capability is beyond the reach of our current technology.
is a societal one. Namely, that many people feel that it's THEIR road not a shared road. They feel little compulsion to act for the greater good. MY text message is more important than YOUR safety. If my selfish behavior endangers the lives of others...tough...I've got to close that big sale, or update my Facebook page...or whatever the fuck I felt was so important in the first place.
From previous Slashdot discussions I've come to learn that:
Safe distance following Inviting an unsafe maneuver by creating a gap that fellow drivers will want to move into - keep gap short Creating safe distance following (e.g. as a result of the above Creating an unsafe situations for cars behind you - quit worrying about safe driving distance you pansy Driving less than 7 miles over the speed limit Not going along with the flow of traffic, creating unsafe situations for all - get off the road, grandpa! Stopping at a stop sign Freaking out the car behind you - practice a rolling stop instead Stopping for a yellow when it's safe to do so Dancing with the whiplash devil - just floor it man, you can make it! Passing cyclists with a wide berth while staying in your own lane Freaking out everybody from the opposite direction anyway, creating unsafe situations for all - try to hit the cyclists with your passenger side mirror, bonus points if they don't fall, even though they don't belong on the road anyway Signaling your turn in advance of the turn Confusing other traffic, leading them to believe you're trying to crash into a mailbox - turn the wheel, and at the same time turn on your blinker, saves energy tooI wish this was post was a lot less serious, but you can check previous stories on people's driving behavior. There's plenty people partaking in traffic who honestly believe that 'technically safe driving' is what causes unsafe situations, and you really should err on the technically unsafe side to be safe.
My car is apparently too noisy, because I've never gotten voice dialing to work right either. Once a call is established though, I defy anyone to show a material difference between the driving skills of someone using a BT earpiece and someone chatting with a passenger. Texting madly with both thumbs, dividing your eyes between the screen and the road is just plain stupid though.
However, here in Ontario, the existing hands-free law is a totally ignored law, arbitrarily and rarely enforced. There is no point in passing any law that society has no interest in following or enforcing. Virtually every day I see people texting on the freeway. I'm not entirely happy about it, but that is the new normal.
Yes, I learned that too. But it's the backstory that is the crux of the issue, I believe. Getting a pilot's license isn't easy. It requires a lot of training. Contrary to what many folks believe, that training isn't about the hand-eye coordination part of flying. That is picked up quickly. No, most of the training involves judgment (don't run out of fuel fool), scientific thought (if the dewpoint and temperature are equal, expect the fog bank), situational awareness (how far/fast/where am I, and who else is in my airspace), and systems (those in the plane and those in the airspace). In other words, most of the training involves learning to *pilot* the plane, not *drive* it. This is totally the opposite of most automobile driving instruction, which is more about learning the mechanics of steering/stopping/turning and a few rules of the road. Many drivers are clueless about what makes their car run (gas/air/spark), have limited situational awareness (eg snow==ditch), and can't distinguish an oil pressure warning from a service engine light. To them, it's simply a conveyance, and thus, they have problems at the first sign of trouble or distraction.
There are a few groups that drive on the roads while simultaneously talking into radios, and did so years before cellphones came out. Police. Truckers. HAM radio operators. Rarely does one hear of these folks getting into an accident because they were communicating over the radio while driving. I suspect it is because these folks have a higher level of training and approach the task of driving like a pilot approaches flying. It's not the communications that impairs the cellphone drivers, it's their attitude and priorities.
and typing in it involves looking at it for relatively long periods of time.
I'm not sure you understand what hands-free texting is.
Fortunately, speech to text is 100 percent accurate, eh? That I do understand. And I suppose that the person never has to look at the screen?
Personally, I'm waiting for s text to speech to text app. That would be killer.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
It already exists. It's called a Bus.
Thus, there's no excuse. If you're a social butterfly (moth?) who positively can't travel for a short while without 'social networking' take the bus.
Babies in cars cause them all the time for example. Under that reasoning, babies should be banned from cars.
I could go for that. Instead of a mandatory car seat in the back, a mandatory Skinner Box in the trunk.
Really, if we'd only let people that are actually good at driving behind the wheel of cars, 90% of current driving license holders would be without transport. Driving licenses aren't about people being a danger to the people around them out cars. They are about keeping the ones that would cost more than they'd ever be able to put back into the economy from causing disasters.
Statistically, people are dangerous in cars, no matter what they do. We have to limit the good drivers to prevent the average and below drivers from doing a lot of damage as well. It's all about "getting by" without major things going wrong and having an objective system setting an acceptable risk factor on traffic for society, not about actual skill or safety of individuals.
Driving licenses are about "minimal requirements to possibly be able to operate a vehicle", nothing more, nothing less. You could in reality be a dangerous fucktard, but as long as you don't show any fucktarding wile you are taking your driving exam, you get the license if you show you are capable of mechanically operating a vehicle, looking around you to observe other traffic and show sufficient knowledge of traffic laws and regulations. You don't have to convince the inspector that you'd be doing all that for the rest of your life.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
Nope. Radios didn't have the stigma of causing accidents that cell phones have, because they're generally operated by truck drivers, police and other emergency vehicles, pilots, racecar drivers, that sort of thing. They tend to not gossip. Wait, no, truck drivers will sometimes ramble over a CB, but there's a difference...
Most people give their conversation their primary attention. Their eyes will move with what they're saying, that's just wrong and bad. If your sentence trails off mid-word because you noticed something off the side of the road and lost your train of thought while you were paying attention to driving over talking, well so what?
When you're driving, driving is the Primary Thing You're Doing. All other things must immediately yield to the needs of driving. You can talk while driving safely, and most people either can't or won't, but it is a Thing That Can Be Done. Proof: It's a thing that has been done by many people for a long time, even in some pretty extreme situations.
... still waiting for this free-as-in-beer free beer I keep hearing about.
You obviously have never been a designated driver. Passengers are just passengers. They talk and yell and scream. It's the drivers job to filter it out and to drive with enough safety margin that distractions are not a safety issue.
It really depends on you passengers and whether they are twats or not.
If I am that drunk and being driven around I generally just fall asleep. Most of the time I am only moderately drunk and so don't quite lose full control of my faculties. I am fairly sure my reactions as such times would be pretty awful, but I am still able to make a judgment call as to when to keep the noise down and not distract the driver.
I am also always amenable to the driver asking me to keep quiet for a second, as should anyone be who does not want to suddenly find themselves hitchhiking :)
I dont read
Talking to a person in a car, also equals distracting.
I think it's time we mandate autonomous driving systems in all cars from 2020 and replace the dashboard with a toy driving wheel, lots of blinkenlights, and a high powered combustion engine sound simulator. I can almost hear Jeremy Clarkson: "What do you mean I'm not really in charge? That was the best lap time I ever had!"
No, you missed the point. He didn't even consider whether he was in an unsafe situation. The phone rings and somehow it says "deal with me NOW!!!!". That isn't the case with the other tasks; those you do when it suits you. The latter is under your control, the former isn't.
It's like a coworker talking to you when you're in the zone versus you choosing to go for a coffee - you'll do that when you sense you're stuck.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
One, the sound quality. This alone means you need to work harder to understand what's said. Second, even if someone is in your peripheral vision you're aware of their body language. Less so than if you were sitting face to face, but more than if they're a disembodied voice. Third, an in-car passenger brings an extra pair of Mk 1 eyeballs. Four, they - assuming they drive[1] - will know when to shut up.
[1] Non-drivers are a nightmare, for me at least.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Not necessarily different. I rear-ended somebody once by looking at the radio. (Nobody was hurt, but it's amazing the expense of an accident you can barely feel.)
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
No, you missed the point. He didn't even consider whether he was in an unsafe situation. The phone rings and somehow it says "deal with me NOW!!!!". That isn't the case with the other tasks; those you do when it suits you. The latter is under your control, the former isn't.
It's like a coworker talking to you when you're in the zone versus you choosing to go for a coffee - you'll do that when you sense you're stuck.
I see it as more like getting incoming mail notifications while you're in the zone...if you're under the gun, you'll ignore them (unless you're needing something that you're expecting to get via email, that is) if not, you'll open it up quick to see if it needs immediate attention or not, then switch back to the task at hand. If I'm 'in the zone', I don't even hear them, and am always surprised at how many messages I have accumulated when I surface for air...
The fact that some people can't assess when to leave it alone and focus, and when it's okay to check and assess (and that applies in all areas of their lives, including and perhaps especially for social media) should not override the fact that the *majority* of people have no problem with this. Unfortunately, it's those relative few with the attention span of a goldfish that crash into things and kill people. These are the same people that used to swerve into oncoming traffic while tuning the radio, or adjusting the air conditioning, or counting the hairs on their knuckles, etc., it's just that now they have some more entertaining knobs to fiddle with.
As for verbally composing text messages while driving: as long as there is a) no requirement to look at the screen to verify text, b) minor corrections are relatively simple to achieve verbally (and aren't often required) and c) there is no time limit imposed (i.e., driver can stop dictating as long as necessary to deal with a developing driving situation, then resume dictation after), there is no way it's more distracting than talking to another person in the car. Or 'arguing' with the talk show host on the radio, for that matter :o)
"I love animals! Some are cute, others are tasty, what's not to like?" - Betsy Schroeder, Jeopardy contestant