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So I nearly got run off the road by a young person talking on their smartphone and it got me thinking about how dangerous and distracted drivers have become through the progress of technology, the freedom of usage, and the ubiquity of screens in cars.
People over 40 might remember when carphones were a luxury item during the mid-80s thru the late-90s. I don't remember the news reporting on distracted driving or accidents related to carphone usage. Carphones weren't in most cars and they were very expensive to own and operate (they were like $.80 a minute top of a $50 monthly fee...gas was a $1/gallon then). Perhaps that is what prevented drivers from being as distracted as they are today. The other difference is that phones do so much more than just voice these days and many of those functions either take more cognitive ability to use (thereby removing attention used for driving) or requires your eyes to glance at the screen.
I seems like even the late-90s to 2005 during the proliferation of the non-smart flip phones, drivers still weren't nearly as bad. Is it the multi-function and screens of smartphones that are making the roads less safe? On the subject of screens and distractions, I'm very concerned about the Tesla Model 3 rely on the tablet and screen menus with little to no hot buttons, dials, and knobs. According to Consumer Reports and Edmunds, you have to search through the tablet to adjust the side mirrors, control the HVAC, open the trunk, etc.
Finally, it seems like we can't put the genie back into the bottle with technology and distracted driving. People born before 1983 would remember what learning and experiencing driving before owning a cellphone; people born after 1990 have probably owned a cellphone by the time there were 10. The point being that younger people have never known the driving experience without owning and using their phones.
It's pretty dangerous, especially when texting. Vermont prohibited using any handheld devices a few years ago but I still see people talking on their phones while driving.
My theory, which I have not seen any experimental data for, is that in part talking to someone on a phone while you're driving has the effect of causing the driver to devote some of his/her mental attention to the remote location where the other person is, and distracts from the driving environment. This would explain why talking on the phone seems to be much more dangerous than simply talking to a passenger in your car: your mind is figuratively somewhere else.
If using handheld devices isn't prohibited in your state I encourage you to lobby your legislators to make that change. Also, those videos showing how fast things can go wrong while you're texting should be shown to all drivers, young and old.
I was born before 1980. Back then people were driving around with giant paper maps trying to figure out where they were while driving.
While we tend to look back as the old days with rose colored glasses, in realty traffic fatalities today are over half of what they were back in the 70’s.
I don't think that talking on the phone is any more distracting than using your A/C, radio,cruise control or navigation.
Actually,with speed dial and Bluetooth they are probably less of a distraction than other devices in your car.
Texting,however is the major cause of deadly accidents.I think that texting while driving should have the same penalty as DWI
1,000% agree with Samiamnh. What was the #1 cause of car accidents in the 80's? Exactly the same thing it is today: distracted driving. Y'know from playing with the radio.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ziggy100
I was born before 1980. Back then people were driving around with giant paper maps trying to figure out where they were while driving.
While we tend to look back as the old days with rose colored glasses, in realty traffic fatalities today are over half of what they were back in the 70’s.
I'd say I've noticed a huge deterioration in driving acumen and curtesy with the use of the phones. I'm not sure if you mean talking or texting on the phone. Regardless, I can spot a phone user a mile away. Weaving in and out of lanes. Fast then slow, coming right up behind you and sudden stop, wait forever to go on green light. No turn signal, etc. I think it's the reaction from the normal non phone drivers that lessens the curtesy factor. I honk my horn more now than ever, for the above listed infractions. Then they flip ME off. Get off your phone and drive.
I disagree with the "people were distracted in the 80's also" argument. No comparison. We had a radio...
Combine phones with the imperviousness of youth and you get a bad driving public.
The technology exists where the phone would not allow you to use it (surf the web, text, etc) outside of using a hands free device or Bluetooth connection while it is in motion in a moving car. It would solve a lot of the problems with people texting or tweeting while driving... but then you get people against the implementation because (what about the passengers or what not).
So progress is never made and careless drivers keep causing property damage and personal injury to innocent bystanders.
For those who claim talking on a cellphone isn't distracting, here's some science. This article specifically addresses hands-free cellphone use and its effect on our cognitive processing.
Due to better drivers (doubtful) or things like airbags, seat-belt laws, better car design, improved materials, et al?
Exactly. You can't compare fatalities by cause when so many other factors are in play. A car crash today with seatbelts, modern structural technology, and airbags will always be less fatal than the same car crash with no seat belt, no airbag, etc.
Studies show over and over again than doing anything with a phone in the car is very distracting. Most people have noticed people driving badly while on the phone, I'm sure, unless they were too focused on their own phones to see.
I saw some young lady run off the road and come within 12" of hitting a tree while she was constantly looking up and down at her phone (texting? navigating? idk) just two days ago. I was beeping my horn to try to get her attention as she careened off the road, but apparently, that didn't get through to her either. She hit the curb, bounced up it, then looked up and jerked back onto the road, narrowly missing another car on the other side before she managed to drive like a normal person again.
Hopefully learned a big lesson there.
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