I get really tired of all these idiots who think they know science- and expound pure, unadulterated BS.
The first time I heard this crazed folks complaining about using hands-free cell phones in cars, I went livid. Because these morons have no clue that there is ZERO difference between talking to your fellow riders in the car than talking on the phone- hands-free. It’s really no different than singing along with the radio. And, probably worse than listening to politicians or Fox News spewing their drivel on the radio- because your brain gets totally involved in that.
Texting? That’s a real problem. Because then your eyes are not on the road. That’s vastly different than speaking to your friend on the phone.
But, turning around and yelling at your kids? That’s as bad as texting. I actually cringe when I watch a movie and the driver keeps turning his or her head to talk to their compatriots in the car. I keep waiting for the accident to occur.
Or, as I saw when I was going to shul the other day, having a driver look at every monument along the Rock Creek Parkway and not pay attention to those in front- or to my car beside him as he crossed into my lane- those are real problems. Just as bad and dangerous as texting. Because the eyeballs need to be focused ON the road.
I provided data explaining this. But, like those who claim that vaccines are dangerous and should not be provided to their kids, why would facts matter? (It does explain the fascination of Trump.)
So, I doubt I will convince the yutzes that refuse to use facts, but there’s a new study that tries to explain to those with a modicum of brain power left, that we are often distracted. (No one does ONLY one thing at a time- for more than a moment.) The key is HOW distracted one may be.
Drs. Ioannis Pavlidis, Director of the Computational Physiology Laboratory (U of Houston) and Robert Wunderlich of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute headed up this study. The paper, Dissecting Driver Behaviors Under Cognitive, Emotional, Sensorimotor, and Mixed Stressors,” can be found in Nature’s Scientific Reports.
59 volunteers drove the same segment of highway under four (simulated highway driving) conditions. (I am glad it was simulated- I wouldn’t want to find out that there were severe accidents when these drivers were distracted.) Of course, one situation was “normal”, where we are supposedly totally focused and engrossed in our driving. Another test distracted the drivers with cognitively challenging questions. Yet another involved emotionally charged questions, and finally the last involved texting. The order of these four scenarios was randomly arranged among the test trials.
And, drum roll please. ONLY TEXTING led to noticeably worse driving. Yeah, big surprise. Only to those who don’t know squat.
Now, I am NOT saying that these scenarios were not stressful and could lead to bad decision making. These drivers did sweat more, they did have jittery steering. But, swerving into other lanes, a diminished capability to steer the car in a straight line- that only happened with texting.
The researchers postulate that it’s our physiology that solves this problem. Our brains are “wired” for movements; a jitter to the right is corrected by a jag to the left. But, with texting when you are focused on the phone or when you are like that dingbat studying monuments and not the road- there is no way for the brain to correct a situation it cannot see!
And, as I also reported before, these researchers found that when you are done texting, your brain doesn’t instantly switch back to normal driving mode. And, during that lag, the texters are far more prone to have an accident.
So, remember. (Or, maybe some of you should pay attention to the first time.) If we keep our physical resources focused on the road, then we may be distracted. But, not DISTRACTED. And, just like sending a note to a friend in capitals denotes a major difference from using normal punctuation, texting is vastly different and our brains can’t compensate, leaving our driving extremely hazardous.
I hate seeing people texting when driving, When I did the Miwaukee to Chicago weekly trip during rush hour I would often see a women driver applying her makeup while traveling at 70 mph. Once I saw a man reading a newspaper but those were a once in a while thing. Now, you see people texting while driving almost every day….at the highway speeds we travel, that scares the hell out of me…..great article….
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And, you are right about applying makeup, reading newspapers or books, etc. I wish they could have single car accidents- and be removed from the road hazards. Unfortunately, they manage to include the rest of us in their carnage.
Totally agree. There is absolutely no way that anyone can drive and text and remain focused on driving….no study was really needed to prove this. BTW I love your tweet on the matter! Lol!
Keesha:
I am in absolute agreement. But, the problem is that so many folks want to include cell phone use in their restrictions. (I agree that without a hands-free adaptor, there is far more distraction than most (absymal, but typical) drivers can tolerate.
Thanks for the visit and the comment.
Texting and driving. Distraction and driving. https://t.co/3nkX2NFMMu via @Adjuvancy
This was fascinating information. In fact, someone I know was texting her daughter (not knowing the daughter was driving at the time) when suddenly she gets a text – the daughter had just rearended someone and had to go. Shudder.
Now, if her daughter only knew to NOT read texts while driving.
This is why I expect auto manufacturers to start blocking texts (with their onboard computers) soon.
Thanks for the visit and comment, Alana.
My daughter has tried to convince me that it’s safe for her to talk to me on the phone hands-free for years, but it took your pointing out it’s no different from talking to a physically present person for me to go, “Oh. Yeah.” So my daughter thanks you. ~grin~
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I’m glad I’ve done that, Marian.
And, it sounds like your daughter is ecstatic about the conversion 🙂 .
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