Intexticated Redux
I’m slow to post on this, but I was glad to see Car and Driver address the issue of texting while driving. The result was unsurprising to anyone who’s looked into the human factors work on attention and distraction, though I liked the eye-catching pairing with impaired driving.
A few further thoughts:
In some other reports on this experiment, I saw the phrase “real world driving” used. The Car and Drive trial was not real-world driving. It was a real car on real asphalt, but had about as much relevance to the real world of traffic as the traffic-free car ads shot in the desert (on ‘closed courses’) have to the actual experience of driving in America.
Related to this, the stimulus that they were meant to respond to was just that: A single stimulus. In real traffic there could be any number of other hazards to potentially respond to than a simple light in front of you (and these would come with less expectation).
The fact that the younger drivers had better response times says more about the response times of younger people than it does driving safety; we need to balance out the faster response time with the risk taking and decision-making skills of younger drivers, which means, among other things, they’re probably driving faster, less able to scan the full extent of the road for hazards, more likely to be doing more texting, thus increasing exposure, etc. etc.
Similarly, the texting task was quite simple and repetitive, and so doesn’t adequately cover the range of distractions that could be posed — i.e., thinking about the text you’ve read, thinking about how to respond, retrieving some bit of information from short-term memory, etc. etc.
Lastly, I would have enjoyed seeing hands-free and hand-held cell phones thrown in there as well. That issue is not “finished” as the even greater hazard of texting arrives.
I’m sure there’s other factors to think about, and readers please feel free to suggest any.
The authors conclude:
In our test, neither subject had any idea that using his phone would slow down his reaction time so much. Like most folks, they think they’re pretty good drivers. Our results prove otherwise, at both city and highway speeds. The key element to driving safely is keeping your eyes and your mind on the road. Text messaging distracts any driver from that primary task. So the next time you’re tempted to text, tweet, e-mail, or otherwise type while driving, either ignore the urge or pull over. We don’t want you rear-ending us.
The above-average-effect is alive and well…
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Traffic safety, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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June 30th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
Nice story. I knew cell phones would be a problem 20 years ago back when all that was available was the large Motorola hand held bricks. I was stopped at a four way stop sign with a overhead blinking red light. As I watched a guy sail through the stop sign chatting away without noticing anything I honked. The *rsehole gave me the finger.
I once almost rear ended someone in the USA as I was coming back to Canada. There was a police officer with the red and blue lights flashing giving someone a ticket. Then within a second came an ambulance. Then I noticed the vehicle stopped in front of me at a red light. I barely skidded to a stop on the wet pavement behind them. Thankfully no one was behind me. Three things in a row. Bang, bang, bang. Thankfully no crash.
A friend was stopped to make a left hand turn. Person behind her hit her at 35 mph. Without hitting the brakes. This was in town a very short block after a light. Daylight. No clouds. Right outside the courthouse indeed. Vehicles were totaled. RCMP never did find out what the second drivers excuse was for not noticing the vehicle in front. Unfortunately we don’t have strong cell phone/texting laws in Canada yet.
So yes, I completely agree. If you are on the cell phone or doing text messaging you should get additional tickets and points on your drivers license.
July 1st, 2009 at 6:39 am
Too true, very disturbing and made worse by the fact that everyday I now see law enforcement officers driving while talking on their cell phones.
July 2nd, 2009 at 5:46 am
I’m curious to know how much texting contributed and cell phone use while driving contributed to the economic meltdown. People reacting slower to greenlights and slower acceleration decreases throughput at traffic lights, increased following distances decrease road capacity (and again decreases througput at lights and other bottlenecks), and of course there’s the accidents. All waste a lot of time and quite a bit of fuel.
Mostly though, I think it the mythe of “slow=efficient” and high gas prices that caused the economic meltdown.
July 2nd, 2009 at 5:49 am
I also wonder how much “traffic calming” accelerated this trend. I believe a large percentage of texting and cell phone calls are actually induced by congestion.
“Since I’m stuck here in traffic, I guess I’ll call…”
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:49 am
In the Netherlands you are not allowed (by law) to even hold the phone in your hand while you are driving (or standing still at a traffic light). You either have to pull over in a parkingarea (not to the side of the freeway, for instance) or use a so called handsfree-set. Which means the phone has to be fixed in a holder, or like my car have a bluetooth radio integrated handsfree kit.
If you do get caught it’ll cost you €150 euros… And still loads of people ignore this rule.
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:14 am
Where are the old-school distractions–talking to passengers and fiddling with the radio? The most dangerous thing I’ve ever done in a car (I ran a red through total inattention) was because I was talking to a passenger.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
HB, the problem with that is hands aren’t the problem. It’s the occupied mental capacity that texting and talking use up.