We have all seen the public service announcements about not talking on a cell phone or texting while driving. But does anyone ever say don’t talk to your passengers? We are social creatures and silence makes us uncomfortable. It would be very hard for people to stay silent for long periods of time. And could they even enforce that? Maybe there could be a way to measure decibel levels in a car but then we’d also have to eliminate radios and they do serve a purpose while driving. They provide a way to communicate information to drivers (I’m sure at some point you’ve been the signs that say something like, when lights are flashing tune to 520 AM<\/i>). Plus, there have been many studies that have shown reasonable use of a radio is safe while driving. Things that can be dangerous about the radio are: having it so loud that it impairs hearing and changing it while driving.<\/p>\n
I digress. I recently took a defensive driving course and a woman in the class asked why using a cell phone was dangerous and talking to a passenger was not. I was sure they were different but didn’t know of any proven theories and\/or reasons. So, I did some research and I thought others would be interested in what I found out.<\/p>\n
Fact: about 80% of accidents and 65% of close calls happen because the driver is distracted for about 3 seconds. So, the broader question is, what takes your attention away from the road for more than 3 seconds?<\/p>\n
Doing things like playing with the radio, changing the destination on your GPS, searching for something in the car, putting on make-up or brushing your hair, changing the climate control settings and adjusting mirrors are all such distractions. Some more talked about distractions are texting and cell phone use. <\/p>\n
Studies have shown that texting while driving it actually worse<\/i> than driving drunk. A driver’s reaction time is about four times slower while texting. In terms of stopping distance, a person needs to allow about 4 extra feet to brake while drunk, thirty-six extra feet when reading a text\/email and seventy extra feet for writing an email\/text. There is an alarming number of accidents that have been associated with texting while driving especially among young people (however that’s because young people are more likely to text while driving not<\/i> that older people are better at texting while driving).<\/p>\n
Cell phone use is another big distraction for drivers. Astonishingly, for every ten people with a cell phone, eight will admit to using them while driving on a semi-regular basis. This is despite the statistics that show one third of accidents in the United States are caused by cell phone use; that’s about the same chance of an accident as if you are legally drunk.<\/p>\n
And don’t be fooled: there is little or no difference between holding a cell phone while driving and using a hands-free device. This shows that it is not having a hand off the wheel that is distracting but the conversation itself. In fact, some studies have shown that while on a cell phone, you are
\npaying about 75-80% of your attention to the conversation and the rest
\non the road… a little scary don’t you think?<\/p>\n
Anyway, the only notable difference I found was that, hands-free devices are legal to
\nuse in many states while driving and using a cell phone is not. So, if what you are concerned about is not getting a ticket, hands-free is the way to go.<\/p>\n
All that said, studies show that talking on a cell phone (or doing any other of the mentioned tasks) is a lot more distracting than talking to a passenger. When you have someone in the car with you, they are experiencing the road with you. The advantage there is that they will stop talking to you when conditions become more dangerous and also provide a second set of eyes. They might see something that the you do not. This concept is known as shared attention and obviously does not exists while on a cell phone. While conversations can be a bit of a distraction, they aren’t even close to being as distracting as a cell phone.<\/p>\n
The bottom line is that we believe that we multi-task well. I’ve heard a variety of people say things like, “Other people can’t talk on a cell phone and drive but I can.” We tend to overestimate our talents. But the truth is, none (or a very<\/i> select few) of us can do two or more things at the same time efficiently. You can only focus on one major task at a time and driving never seems to be that major task and people are killed. So, next time you take a call or need to send a text, pull over. There’s a shoulder for a reason. And if your passenger, or passengers, are being a distraction ask them to keep quiet. Turn your radio down to a reasonable level and try to only adjust it at stop lights. It’s those little things that will save your lif. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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