Yakking Drivers More Likely To Crash -- But Results Likely To Be Misinterpreted
from the not-too-surprising dept
This will probably surprise very few people, but a new study done in Australia adds some more evidence to the idea that people who drive while talking on the phone are more likely to be in an accident -- though, it is worth noting that all of the data studied occurred in on city, which may not be an accurate sample of the world population. Still, it only makes sense that having some sort of distraction increases your likelihood of being in an accident. Of course, this will just renew political calls to ban driving while talking -- which is the wrong lesson. It's banning just one thing rather than taking on the issue of distracted driving in a serious way. Even an original supporter of banning using phones in cars has since changed his mind on the problem, noting that it has had unintended consequences, leading to other distractions, rather than actually make the roads any safer.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Funny
The USA is still behind the learning curve on cell phone accidents. Asia has already had high-profile incidents of yakking drivers killing groups of schoolkids, so public opinion has soured against their use.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
And more to the point, when the heck are they going to be even slightly fair and start applying the same restrictions to the utterly idiotic pedestrians who yak on the blower on the street and walk out in *front* of cars?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
This is akin to the recent news of the NYC MTA blocking the cell phone signals in the Tunnels. The action isn't actually making us any safer, its just a public showing.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Funny
-
http://www.hfes.org/web/DetailNews.aspx?ID=72
[ link to this | view in thread ]
death penalty to cellphone drivers
If cellphoning while driving leads to 4 times more accidents, then OF COURSE you should ban the practice. Any four year old can see that is the right choice. But adults like their toys and will go to any length to convince themselves that they can and should be able to keep them regardless of the cost to everyone else.
I know you all have been behind people on their cells that just sit there or stop in the middle of a green light intersection to clear up an important point. But of course the conversation is more important than navigating a silly car, so stop everything while you negotiate your contract. Or is it that you didnt notice these people because you were these people?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: death penalty to cellphone drivers
Wouldn't you rather actually solve a problem then just say you've solved it when the facts show you haven't?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Funny
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: death penalty to cellphone drivers
Methinks thou doest assume too much.
For the vast majority of drivers, driving only occupies ~30-40% cognitive ability. By the sound of things, you need this law.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: death penalty to cellphone drivers
[edit: New laws, I'll agree, need to be written concerning certain areas, such as the internet. (Not spyware, though) Where completely new issues have arisen, some new laws might actually be useful. But the idea that new technology, such as cell phones, changes peoples' behavior (which is implied in the need for a ban) is false.]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: death penalty to cellphone drivers
You are making a ridiculous argument. Enforce arbitrary and ambiguous laws that are totally subject to interpretation over concrete laws. Drive safely or get a ticket vs. drive without a cellphone or get a ticket. In the first case, anyone could be pulled over and the second case only the offenders can be pulled over. You would rather have police pull you over based on their mood?
re: mikes claim that the laws dont solve the problem. You are being dishonest here mike. The laws are for hands free. That isnt addressing the problem of not yaking that is addressing the problem of driving one handed.
re: the super brain that says he only uses 40% to drive. Unfortunately, your brain doesnt work that way. You dont have a dedicated line to the car. You swap out completely when your focus changes. That is why everyone sucks at driving when they talk on the phone. And because they arent paying attention to their driving they also dont know when they are driving like shit. So they can proclaim that their driving doesnt suffer, because they werent paying attention when they ran over those children.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
About the
As usual, I get the feeling you're just implying that the study is rubbish or fundamentally flawed. I'll counter by saying that most people on the globe live in cities*. The "country" areas where everyone else lives are unlikely to have coverage so people can make calls (this is certainly the case in Australia, and was the case in Western Europe when I was there a couple of years ago). So it would seem to me that the study is perfectly justified on focusing on city driving.
*: some trivial googling got me this page which says: "More developed nations are about 76 percent urban, while 40 percent of residents of less developed countries live in urban areas." Which pretty much backs up my argument.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
My town
I would guess that more than 70% of the time I see a local cop on patrol they are on their cell phone while driving their marked cars. I believe this sets a bad precedent for the general population if you are trying to preach that it is dangerous.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: death penalty to cellphone drivers
I only need one hand to drive. I only need one hand to use a phone. So talking on the phone doesn't detract from my driving. I know, the problem is not motor skills, but inattentiveness. I am perfectly capable of paying attention to everything around me and talking on the phone at the same time. I know you don't believe me [since my attention is "not" on my driving, I don't realize how poorly I'm driving], but it's true. If someone is not capable of that, then they're just stupid.
And cops pull people over for arbitrary reasons all the time. Once I got pulled over for driving with my fisher window (that little triangle one) open on a rainy day. I've also been stopped for being white in a black neighborhood.
and Re: My town: You are absolutely correct. I haven't seen the cops around here on their phones much, but cops LO-O-O-OVE to drive around at night with their lights off. They run a ton of run lights too; they could say they were called somewhere, but there's no excuse for no lights at night.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: death penalty to cellphone drivers
As a passenger if I shout boo at the driver, the driver will swerve most of the time. But you will claim that is not the case either I suppose.
Creating laws that ban a specific thing is not "crossing into dangerous territory" any more than creating a law that says you cant stab someone when there is already something on the books that says you cant murder someone. There are lots of overlapping and redundant laws. That doesnt make them bad, it makes them clear and more correct.
Just because cops pull people over for arbitrary reasons now doesnt in any way make it justifiable to give them more reason to do so. What were you thinking? Vague laws are better because cops are already arbitrary in their enforcement?
Concrete laws work well because they are easy to enforce and easy to defend against false claims. Vague laws are crap that just mess up the system.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: death penalty to cellphone drivers
So I'm going to write a letter to my congressman, asking him to draft a bill making it illegal to shout boo in a moving vehicle.
That's a joke. I do see your point, but can you see mine?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
If legislation called for the summary execution of anyone using any sort of telephone in a moving vehicle, things would clear up rather quickly.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
dahdahdah
[ link to this | view in thread ]