Study on Distracted Driving

[kevinvc]

Well, this study confirms what has frequently been discussed on this forum. We are a nation of cell phone addicted distracted drivers.

It's interesting to me that Oregon is ranked as the "least distracted", while Portland is one of the "most distracted" cities.

There are some obvious issues with the study. They start with the assumption that all cell phone use is distracted driving. I would say that using route navigation, particularly if listening only to the audio turn by turn directions, is not as bad as texting.

The main takeaways I got are that cell phones are used a lot while driving, even more so than I would have anticipated. Also, there does not appear to be correlation between cell phone use and laws forbidding it. This shouldn't be too surprising since any kind of regulation is essentially useless if it's not enforced.

[jtakeda]

Originally Posted by kevinvc

Well, this study confirms what has frequently been discussed on this forum. We are a nation of cell phone addicted distracted drivers.

It's interesting to me that Oregon is ranked as the "least distracted", while Portland is one of the "most distracted" cities.

There are some obvious issues with the study. They start with the assumption that all cell phone use is distracted driving. I would say that using route navigation, particularly if listening only to the audio turn by turn directions, is not as bad as texting.

The main takeaways I got are that cell phones are used a lot while driving, even more so than I would have anticipated. Also, there does not appear to be correlation between cell phone use and laws forbidding it. This shouldn't be too surprising since any kind of regulation is essentially useless if it's not enforced.

Not surprised here.

But in regards to turn by turn navigation not being a distraction--I'm going to disagree. While it could be argued that it's *less distracting* than texting or playing Angry Birds while driving it's still distracting.

I've been hit twice by people making last minute unsignaled turns because "their gps told them to turn". If you would like I'll send you the video of me getting creamed by a lady turning right over three lanes because Siri said turn.

[Anarchist]

Any cell phone use in the car is distracted driving, every bit as much as looking at the radio while you switch stations. That is distracted driving.

At a time that cars get bigger and more powerful, precisely the conditions that would seem to require attention to the road, automakers and gadget makers are doing everything possible to distract our attention from where it should be.

Those 9 inch screens in car dashboards that you need to navigate now just to change radio stations? The epitome of distracted driving.

Combine this with the fact we seem to have become a society of complete idiots, incapable of rational thought, and we have trouble.

I have seen situations like mentioned above. It doesn't seem to dawn on people that if the gadget can tell you top turn right "HERE" it is also capable of getting you back on your route if you turn right 2 blocks ahead when you have had time to safely come across traffic.

I sometimes think that the combined effect of all these electronic wonders has been to remove the frontal lobe of the users' brains.

[kevinvc]

Originally Posted by jtakeda

Not surprised here.

But in regards to turn by turn navigation not being a distraction--I'm going to disagree. While it could be argued that it's *less distracting* than texting or playing Angry Birds while driving it's still distracting.

I've been hit twice by people making last minute unsignaled turns because "their gps told them to turn". If you would like I'll send you the video of me getting creamed by a lady turning right over three lanes because Siri said turn.

I don't disagree with you (and really don't want to see the video) that poor decision making combined with.. well, anything, can be a distraction. And brainless following of navigation systems can lead to bad results, such as your case or this story of a guy who literally drove his car off a bridge because his GPS said so.

My point is just that not all cell phone distractions are necessarily equal. The organization that did this study was trying to gather data to reinforce their already established conclusion and I don't know how academically rigorous the study was.

It's still interesting to look at the raw data of just how prevalent cell phone use among drivers in every state of the country. The bottom line remains the same: ride (and drive and walk) as if every vehicle is being driven by someone who is oblivious to your existence.

[djg21]

Originally Posted by kevinvc

Well, this study confirms what has frequently been discussed on this forum. We are a nation of cell phone addicted distracted drivers.

It's interesting to me that Oregon is ranked as the "least distracted", while Portland is one of the "most distracted" cities.

There are some obvious issues with the study. They start with the assumption that all cell phone use is distracted driving. I would say that using route navigation, particularly if listening only to the audio turn by turn directions, is not as bad as texting.

The main takeaways I got are that cell phones are used a lot while driving, even more so than I would have anticipated. Also, there does not appear to be correlation between cell phone use and laws forbidding it. This shouldn't be too surprising since any kind of regulation is essentially useless if it's not enforced.

Did you read the actual report? I'm reluctant to give contact information to a commercial enterprise.

I'd be curious as what the Report considers to be "cell phone use." There has been research (don't ask me where I read it) indicating that hands-free systems are only a marginal improvement over handheld devices because people can be distracted merely by engaging in telephone conversations, irrespective of whether the conversation is hands-free. Smart phones also can be used for other purposes apart from making phone calls, sending email or texting. In particular, I'm thinking about navigation and crowd-sourcing apps like Google Maps and Waze, among others. Even in the absence of phones, the high-tech controls and audio systems in newer vehicles have the capacity to be very distracting.

I'm not sure what the answer is, but as autos become more high-tech, distracted driving is becoming a larger risk that will need to itself be addressed with technology, and in legislation.

[marciero]

Originally Posted by djg21

....I'm not sure what the answer is, but as autos become more high-tech, distracted driving is becoming a larger risk that will need to itself be addressed with technology, and in legislation.

That's already happening. Driverless cars would eliminate the problem. If people insist on driving then driverless technology (that would, for example, override the driver and take measures to avoid an impending accident) would at least greatly mitigate this problem.

[Peter P.]

Read the book, A Deadly Wandering, by Matt Richtel.

Through the story of Reggie Shaw, Richtel researches why our brains are distracted by cellphone use while driving, and why we can't put the phone down while doing so. People are addicted, stupid, 'effed up, and it's only going to get worse. And handsfree doesn't make you safer.

What it will take to turn it around is some powerful politician or his family member to be killed by a distracted driver. THEN it'll be personal...

What's just as sobering is the ad on page 43 of the May 2017 issue of Bicycling magazine.

Delta Cycle's ad text goes like this:

"Do you ride with your phone? If so, there's no better way to carry any phone with any case. Check a call safely and quickly, or use the popular apps to monitor your ride..." (Bold emphasis mine.)

Makes me think cyclists are just as guilty as car drivers, whether checking your phone, heartrate monitor, power monitor, or bike computer.

[fuzzalow]

Originally Posted by Peter P.

Read the book, A Deadly Wandering, by Matt Richtel.

Through the story of Reggie Shaw, Richtel researches why our brains are distracted by cellphone use while driving, and why we can't put the phone down while doing so. People are addicted, stupid, 'effed up, and it's only going to get worse. And handsfree doesn't make you safer.

I read this book off the recommendation of this forum. And I would not recommend it as I found it to be a rather pointless book around a main character that I found stupid and irresponsible. The book's climax about when he sees the light and decides not to be stupid and irresponsible. The whole thing was a bad book hoping to get lucky to get optioned for a movie.

A waste of time for me but no great loss as I read fast and the book was from the public library.

[jemoryl]

Aside from the dangers posed to us as cyclists, people's relationship with their phones is approaching pathological. There is a guy where I work who I have never seen not staring at his phone. He walks the corridors staring at it and at lunch time he circles the parking lot staring and screwing around with the thing. I joked with someone who works in his area to secretly hide his phone for awhile to see what he does.

[fuzzalow]

Originally Posted by jemoryl

Aside from the dangers posed to us as cyclists, people's relationship with their phones is approaching pathological.

Yes agree. And the pathology is both expansive and self validating and self sustaining across all other users that fall prey to its addiction. An entire society of nimrods talking or texting senseless s--t to an equal number of nimrods talking or texting senseless s--t in response. Who among us has not walked behind someone on the street overhearing 1/2 of a mindless conversation. Sure, it is mindlessly senseless stupid s--t until the guy walking down the street talking into his smartphone is YOU!

It it ALL senseless, mindless, stupid s--t. I once gave a guy a side-eye glance at some guy's smartphone conversation on a commuter train and had the guy retort "I'm working on a very important deal". I replied that "Any deal you can talk about in public and at the top of your lungs isn't important".

That smartphone dumbs down society by making people their own epicenter of their own pointless, banal and mundane lives. I want nothing to do with that kinda crowd.

[redir]

What we need is a to change the name to Mothers Against Distracted Driving (MADD) or it aint gonna happen.

[Black Dog]

The behaviour needs to be criminalized like DUI. For that matter we really should actually criminalize DUI in a real way that matches the severity of the consequences of the behaviour.

[cachagua]

...For that matter we really should actually criminalize DUI in a real way that matches the severity of the consequences of the behaviour.

Yes! DUI isn't frowned-upon or discouraged, it's straight-up ILLEGAL, and still our response is completely toothless. Story in my paper this morning about a guy on his 11th, that's eleventh, DUI... I'm like, at what point do we put someone's eyes out? At what point do we simply helicopter them 50 miles out to sea, and... drop them off.

"Match the severity of the consequences of the behaviour", very nicely put. Half-measures aren't going to do the job. As the 14th Earl of Gurney used to say: the ax must be laid to the root.

[shovelhd]

Originally Posted by cachagua

Yes! DUI isn't frowned-upon or discouraged, it's straight-up ILLEGAL, and still our response is completely toothless. Story in my paper this morning about a guy on his 11th, that's eleventh, DUI... I'm like, at what point do we put someone's eyes out?

I was the foreman on a criminal jury considering the case of a man who drove into the back of a police car DUI. It was his fifth offense, however his priors were not admissible as evidence. We found out in the judge's chambers after we convicted him. That's part of the problem. Juries can't know about the priors, and judges, at least in MA, refuse to sentence repeat offenders to ensure deterrence.

[rugbysecondrow]

Some of this is real danger, some of this is out-dated common courtesy, and some of it is just old man complaining.

Everybody on the road or sidewalk is in real danger when folks use their phone and drive. It does distract drivers and it does cause accidents, injury and death.

The pathology of the phone use these days seems to be an outgrowth of prior generations mindless television watching. If you are mindlessly staring at a screen, does the size and placement of the screen matter? I have been in homes where the TV is on every waking moment...hand held use is an outgrowth of that, IMO. I know that I have tried to cut down on computer, TV and phone screen time in favor of the radio (I love my Sonos!). It is hard to tell kids not to be on their screen of choice while you, as the parent, is on your screen of choice. Maybe the pathology is not device specific.

How people define relationships and how they relate to one another has changed over the years. How people entertain themselves is different as well. I know a kids who says his best friends are people he plays Halo with, but has never met in person. My son sometimes watches other people play Mindcraft on YouTube. I never understood why a kids would want to watch other people play a game until Baseball season started and I sat down to watch other grown men play a game.

This is a rambling way of saying, take the distraction seriously and lets work to resolve that, but parse it from the judgmental "kids these days" or old-person sanctimony that often comes from one generation not understanding the next. There isn't that great of a difference, just an adaption of learned behavior.