iPhone

[Dogmama]

Hands free should be banned too.

Research shows that just talking on a cell, with or without hands free, is a distraction = drunk driving. So, I don't "get" why hands free is OK? Is the phone lobby that powerful in Washington?

[Catrin]

Research shows that just talking on a cell, with or without hands free, is a distraction = drunk driving. So, I don't "get" why hands free is OK? Is the phone lobby that powerful in Washington?

hmmmm....I will play the devil's advocate here. What separates this from talking to someone in the car? That can be at least as serious a distraction, especially for people who are accustomed to driving solo...

[OakLeaf]

I'm not sure they've scientifically identified what the difference is, only that there is one, and multiple studies have confirmed it. Theories include the passenger having some awareness of road conditions and shutting up or even alerting the driver; or psychological factors that say the driver isn't "removing" her consciousness from inside the car.

There are specific behaviors that are stereotypical of people driving on the phone, and most of them relate to tunnel vision. I don't encourage anyone to talk while driving, but if you do it and you're not aware of the tunnel vision you get, you might just give it a try on a flat, straight, untrafficked piece of road. Start talking to someone. (Dial hands free or while you're stopped.) Make sure they know you're doing an experiment and that they're prepared for you to drop the phone at any second. Now make sure you're seeing with your whole eyes. Keep your eyes on the road and (while talking to the person about something ELSE), identify everything in your peripheral vision and predict what it's going to do and/or where hazards might be coming from.

Betcha can't do it. I sure can't. That's why you'll usually see people on the phone "attaching" themselves to other vehicles - either by tailgating or by shadowing someone's blind spot. They can only really see one thing while they're talking and driving, so they attach themselves to another vehicle and do whatever the other driver does.

It can be tough sometimes trying to shake a phone addict when you're driving the car they're attached to!



I'll add that I think it's the tunnel vision that makes phone addicts especially dangerous to us cyclists and runners, because it exacerbates target fixation. As a motorcyclist and bicyclist, I'm well aware of target fixation (both in myself and in other drivers), but it wasn't until I started running (facing traffic) that I really became aware of how enormous a problem it is and how ill-educated most drivers are about it. When a driver can only see one thing (tunnel vision), and then that thing becomes YOU (because they're suddenly looking at something they're not used to seeing on the road) and then they AIM for you (because tunnel vision plus target fixation means they can literally only drive in the direction they can see in - BTDT myself [not on the phone], totalled my moto but luckily only got some bruises and didn't hurt the other driver) - that's how cyclists and little kids walking to school die. Right? You read all the time how somebody got run over on the shoulder or even on the sidewalk, and the police report says "it's unknown why the driver left the roadway," when in fact it's perfectly obvious why the driver left the roadway. Target fixation. Not necessarily involving a phone, but phones seriously exacerbate it.

This is drifty, but it's important. Please. Seriously. You're not just endangering yourselves - but your own safety is valuable, too, and we'd miss you.

[Dogmama]

http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/16/3/128.short

If you don't want to click on it - here is the gist

Moreover, in-vehicle conversations do not interfere with driving as much as cell-phone conversations do, because drivers are better able to synchronize the processing demands of driving with in-vehicle conversations than with cell-phone conversations.

and another

http://cellphonefreedriving.ca/media...istraction.pdf

when controlling for driving difficulty and time
on task, cell phone drivers may actually exhibit greater impairments (i.e., more accidents and
less responsive driving behavior) than legally intoxicated drivers. These data also call into
question driving regulations that prohibit hand-held cell phones and permit hands-free cell
phones, because no significant differences were found in the impairments to driving caused by
these two modes of cellular communication.

and finally

http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=506599 (click on the PSU PDF)

People sometimes ask why cell phone conversation is
risky, in that conversation with passengers in the car does
not seem to cause accidents. We believe passengers
moderate their speech based on their observation of
current driving conditions. For example, most people
would stop talking to a driver who is passing a truck on a
two-lane mountain road after dark

[Irulan]

^ that. I used to have a blackberry for work, and I would drop it down in the hand slot in the door and it worked great on speaker. The iPhone, not so much. There are several states now with handsfree laws - here. I do have a bluetooth headset, I just don't always remember to turn it on so now I usually hit answer, speaker, and just tell someone to wait a minute while I get the bluetooth going.

Here's the thing... in that split second you have to diddle with it to answer it, hit the right buttons for speaker, tell your person to hold on, and then turn on the blue tooth.... you aren't looking at the road. What if a toddler darted out in front of you at that very split second? Someone braked for a turn that didn't have their signal on? I'm not picking on you. I'm commenting on the millions of drivers who think they are safe enough glancing at the phone for just a split second. I see them every day.

Sure. I've done it. I admit it. My state passed a law last year for hand held cell phone use as a primary offense, and you know what... I follow it. I don't have a hands free so I have disciplined myself to not answer the phone. It's amazing, there are places to pull over everywhere when you aren't on the freeway, where you can stop your car and see who called, and return the call right away if necessary. If your employer expects you to be available in the car and won't provide a bluetooth setup, shame on them.

I'm convinced my city could solve their budget crisis if they'd just park a traffic cop at a couple of major intersections and write $124 tickets all day.

So let me ask again, why do people so flagrantly ignore the laws?

[Catrin]

Interesting discussion, for sure. For the record, my bluetooth is wired in my car so all I have to do to answer a call is for my thumb to hit a button on my steering wheel...which is easy to do by feel. I also rarely initiate calls when driving and NEVER in city traffic. If I do want to start a call, my thumb just hits another button and I say the name of the person I am calling - so there isn't much there to distract outside of the conversation itself. I've had enough happen in my life that I KNOW things do happen and can certainly happen to me.

Thanks for the links. I hadn't heard of this research before and will check it out.

[Dogmama]

I upgraded to a Droid Bionic about a month ago. Took it to San Fran & was hoping the navigation would help with the public transportation. It is AWESOME. It found where I was at, I would type in where I wanted to go and it would give me multiple choices depending on when I wanted to leave. It told me what buses to take, what transfers I'd have to do and how long the total trip would be.

Since then, I found out that I can use it for a shopping list. OK, so I'm anal, but I DO grocery shop with a list. I don't even have to type it. I just put a name to the list and then speak each item. It displays it on the screen, I accept it and go onto the next. In the store, I can check off things as I get them. So much better than my scribbled up 5X7 tablets!

Oh, and it also makes phone calls