Article in Science Daily discussing the distractions in modern vehicles: or
Part of the article: "The researchers found drivers using features such as voice-based and touch-screen technology took their hands, eyes and mind off the road for more than 24 seconds to complete tasks.
Previous research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that the risk of a crash doubles when a driver takes his or her eyes off the road for two seconds."
Yeah no shit Einstein. Just look at the statistics for clear-straight-daytime accidents - - resulting in catastrophic collisions .. .. idiots on their devices .. John T.
I'm sure phone texting is a major contributing factor.
NBC ran a segment on this tonight and it amazed me the number of people who were staring at the screen while they were using voice commands. They have figured out it is not your hands that are distracted when you text, it is your mind so hands free is not really that helpful.
Voice recognition is not all that good at saving distraction. For navigation I do it before driving or pull over and stop.
Even hands free calling is a mental distraction. In light traffic to ask what's for dinner is not so bad but in heavy fast moving traffic id is very distracting to try and give instructions to defuse a bomb.
You're probably thinking about the message you're sending and (like voice calls) imagining you're somewhere else (with the person the message is for). There is a tendency to think you're watching the road as well, even when you aren't and "see" memories of the road rather than what's happening now.
It's affected by the person you're communicating with. Somebody who's continually saying "what" and assuming you mean something other than what you say can be much more of a distraction.
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I was at a Lowes yesterday and some texter drove his pickup head-on into a 3' diameter concrete light post in the parking lot. The pickup was hauled away on a flatbed truck. The light post was still standing although it was leaning slightly.
I wonder what kind of lame-ass excuse Mr. Texter told his insurance company.
People still tend to think it won't happen to me but it does. I was at the kitchen sink and it looks out to a street down the hill. I heard a crash and looked up and could just see the back of a car. She drove head on into a pickup and died while texting. 22 years old.
"That stupid light post hit me while I was sending an 'f' to my girlfriend." :-)
That's the key....many people believe they are better than the other schmoes. There are many videos accessible online of idiots walking/tripping into objects while texting. It's amazing how many think they can do so while driving.
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