Hands-Free More Dangerous Than Disclosed

[Kadie]

Hands-Free More Dangerous Than Disclosed
Hidden Documents Show Distractions Increase Likelihood Of Crash

POSTED: 4:17 pm PDT July 21, 2009
UPDATED: 5:37 pm PDT July 21, 2009

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Newly released government documents show hands-free devices are more dangerous than the public was told.

California's hand-free law passed more than a year ago. But Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog group, said Americans weren't given all the facts about how dangerous a hands-free device can be.

"So whether you're doing that on hands-free device or on a handheld cell phone, the distraction of the conversation causes the increased likelihood of a car crash," said Margaret Kwoka, an attorney with Public Citizen.

Government documents show the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been keeping the research hidden for the past six years. California drivers questioned why valuable safety information wouldn't be made public.

http://www.kcra.com/news/20135536/detail.html

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. One of the facts that people choose to overlook

is that the same part of the brain that's used in driving is the same part of the brain that's involved in conversation.

Didn't we all have the crazy uncle who slammed on the brakes, even on the freeway, when he had something to say?

Or who looked over his shoulder to talk to the people in the back seat?

Or was that just my Uncle Danny?

I've never been able to carry on a conversation with a passenger if there was also music playing. I just can't do it.

And the one time I answered my cell phone while driving, I went right through a red light. There was no traffic, and I pulled over immediately, as shaken as if I'd hit someone.

I'm a very good driver, but I would never use a cell phone while on the road. No one should be allowed to do so. It's that dangerous...........................................................

[Mythsaje]

4. So I drive entirely different than anyone else?

Oh, wait, I already knew that...

[Tangerine LaBamba]

10. What?

Sorry, but I didn't understand that................

[imdjh]

15. omg! we're cousins!

"Didn't we all have the crazy uncle who slammed on the brakes, even on the freeway, when he had something to say?"


yes

[Mythsaje]

2. As opposed to talking to the kids in the back seat?

I find this remarkably hard to swallow.

[LeftyMom]

38. Passengers can see road conditions. They tend to shut up when you're doing something difficult,

and demand more attention when you're stopped at a light or something.

[hedgehog]

3. Why would the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration keep

this study a secret? Was it just knee jerk Republican anti-regulation activity or what?

[sam sarrha]

5. ..dupe.

[RC]

6. Duh!

The conscience brain is not a multi function device. When you are thinking about the conversation, you are not paying attention to your Driving.

[Mythsaje]

9. Depends on how you're wired...

I can talk and do spatial reasoning and pattern recognition at the same time. That's all driving is.

[imdjh]

25. Let's face it- it's not talking or driving, it's those people.

It's not people like me, who reluctantly take a call from mom while driving, because she might need something, or because she always calls 2 minutes before you are supposed to pick her up.

It's the people who for whatever reason cannot go ten minutes without yacking on the phone. People who dial, while the car is warming up and who hang up, well, sometimes you never see them hang up because they take the phone into the store with them to share the rudeness with the store employees and other shoppers.

It's the people who yack on the phone, with their kids in the car on the way to and from school, that quality time with the kids.

It's that guy riding behind you who is so very important and talented, that he must talk on the phone incessantly, take notes on his dashboard notebook, and smoke a cigarette between sips of coffee.

It's those people.

[Mythsaje]

26. Now THAT I can see...

When it's just one facet of a multi-tasking experience.

[The Doctor.]

33. NO SUCH THING!!!

Get back in the box!!!!

:evilgrin:

[johnaries]

7. I don't see why hands-free would be any more distracting

than a conversation with a passenger. I drive a stick, and so I have to use hands-free. But I don't find the conversation itself a distraction.

Now, I have seen people texting, drinking coffee, and putting on their make-up while driving. THAT's a distraction!

[RC]

12. The passinger is in the same vehicle and can see what you the driver sees.

and can stop talking and or gesture. Who ever on the other end of the phone cannot see what is going on around the vehicle. That is the difference.

[Mythsaje]

14. People keep saying that and it keeps being true

that passengers aren't paying a lick of attention to the road UNLESS the driver is already scaring them.

That's a load of bullshit.

[johnaries]

17. I'm afraid that what will happen is that they ban ALL "distractions".

If I'm not allowed to talk, listen to music, smoke, or drink cofffee while I drive I will fall asleep. THEN I will wreck and take out half the cars on the interstate with me!

[Mythsaje]

18. They can't...

This will never fly because people conduct business in their vehicles all the time now. If true, it's going to mean a total overhaul of the way our roads and freeways work, as well as our automobiles.

[johnaries]

20. Yep, time to build those "automatic" cars that drive themselves.

I still want my flying car the Jetson's promised!

[Mythsaje]

23. I used to love the idea of flying cars

until I stopped to think of what would happen if there was a breakdown. Bad juju.

[johnaries]

28. Ooo. Good point. Not a pleasant scenario. nt

[johnaries]

16. Ok, I can see that. Although it's more true of some passengers

than others. ;)

[Kadie]

30. One day,

I was next to a police officer in a double lane entering the freeway, she was looking down and texting on a hand held device while merging into traffic. Made me a little nervous.

:scared:

[sam sarrha]

8. it isnt the phone ... its "Talking" that kills, i'm sure talking kills more than guns in the home.

[BlueIdaho]

11. I saw a test recently

In an auto sport magazine. Talking hands free turned out to be more dangerous than driving drunk. Not just a little worse - LOTS worse.

YMMV.

[Mythsaje]

13. My Gawd, then we'd best get rid of all those fucking PASSENGERS.

:eyes:

[nyhuskyfan]

19. it feels different

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like I devote a higher degree of concentration to cell phone conversations - making sure I hear everything that's being said or just dealing with the minor physical discomfort of an earpiece. When someone is in the car, there's no straining to hear them and nothing stuck in my ear, so it seems like my attention is less undivided. Even if I'm walking - I can walk and talk with someone next to me and be fully aware of everything, but if I'm walking and talking on the cell, I'm apt to bump into someone or not notice when the walk light changes. Other people are different, though - I just know that's my experience.

[Mythsaje]

24. Okay... I can accept that.

I don't have that feeling, myself, but, then again, I don't tend to talk on the phone and drive all that often. I don't tend to talk on the phone that much in the first place. But I have never had too much trouble with it since I switched to hands-free.

[Skittles]

27. what irritates me

is people thinking their fucking cell phone conversations are more important than paying attention to the road - unbelievably arrogant

[Silent3]

32. The important difference between talking to a passenger...

...and talking on a cell phone (hands-free or not) might be that a passenger in your car is aware of your surroundings and the driving situation along with you, unlike someone one the other end of a phone call, and this may influence the pacing and rhythm of a conversation in a way the helps you pay attention at critical moments.

[Mythsaje]

34. I've found that the passengers (especially kids) are not in the last bit

aware of what's going on unless something scares them. Most are busy chatting, looking at the scenery, arguing (in the case of the kids), reading a book, or talking on their own phone these days.

[Silent3]

36. If they're busy doing something that's not a conversation with you...

...then that really doesn't compare to a cell phone conversation anyway when it comes to your level of engagement with them.

At any rate, I thought I'd heard something about this difference between passenger conversation and cell phone conversation in the news, and was able to find this study:

http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/xap144-drews.pdf

Here's the synopsis:

This study examines how conversing with passengers in a vehicle differs from conversing on a cell phone
while driving. We compared how well drivers were able to deal with the demands of driving when
conversing on a cell phone, conversing with a passenger, and when driving without any distraction. In
the conversation conditions, participants were instructed to converse with a friend about past experiences
in which their life was threatened. The results show that the number of driving errors was highest in the
cell phone condition; in passenger conversations more references were made to traffic, and the production
rate of the driver and the complexity of speech of both interlocutors dropped in response to an increase
in the demand of the traffic. The results indicate that passenger conversations differ from cell phone
conversations because the surrounding traffic not only becomes a topic of the conversation, helping
driver and passenger to share situation awareness, but the driving condition also has a direct influence
on the complexity of the conversation, thereby mitigating the potential negative effects of a conversation
on driving.

[Skittles]

21. the people I see talking on cell phones drive like fucking idiots

that's all I know - and I'm pretty sure all of them would say they drive just FINE :puke:

[Mythsaje]

22. 80% of the people on the road drive like "fucking idiots" half the time...

Cell phone or no.

On the other hand, if you're paying too much attention to the other drivers (enough to notice whether or not they're using a hands-free device) you're one of the people I'm cussing out. I don't pay attention to other drivers--I watch the cars.

[nyhuskyfan]

29. That's very true

I know there have been several times I've seen an idiot driver (or pedestrian) go by and then I'll keep my eys on them for a couple seconds and take my attention away from my own driving. This hasn't affected me to the degree of a near-miss accident, but it has caused me to hit the brakes more quickly than normal a couple times.

[Mythsaje]

31. Imagine tossing another distraction (like a cell phone) on top of that...

I think that might be the source of the problem.

[elocs]

35. So, we encourage carpooling, but everybody just keep your damned mouths shut.

No distracting the driver! Stereos--distractions! Billboards--distractions! Kids in the backseat--distractions! That hot chick or guy walking down the street--distractions! Thinking about anything but driving--distractions! A distraction is a distraction is a distraction. We need the dedicated Distraction Police working closely with the Thought Police on this 24/7. Our very safety is in jeopardy! Save us from ourselves!

[Festivito]

37. Let me guess, report done when handsfree FIRST appeared.

People don't know how to use it yet, get into accidents, Republicans don't want to do anything about it because they'll look bad, so, they bring it out now and hide the details so Dems might be the ones with their fingerprints all over a hated idea.