Affects on response times when driving

[George]

Stumbled across this elsewhere on the web and thought it appropriate to put here.

[G'day Mate]

I've also read that talking to people in the same car as you is just as distracting as hands-free. They should have that on the list.

Nah, I don't think that's true because a person in the car with you is much more aware of whatever current situation the driver is in whereas someone on the other end of the phone will just keep talking and distracting the driver.

[Phil_SS]

They should add eating also.

Or what about receiving road head? Or giving it, don't ask George told me not to say anything....

[Drachen596]

on an old phone i could send entire messages without ever looking at the phone. combination of knowing the keys and the T9 feature.

if you want to see how distracted people are by their phones even while walking just visit a store. or consider there was a woman who fell into a manhole cover while texting and walking..

[Yw-slayer]

Or what about receiving road head?

A friend with experience might say that this is a bad idea.

[Dicknose]

Its amazing how often I see a vehicle in front of me and can guess they are on the phone just because they are wandering in the lane and not keeping a constant distance to the vehicle in front of them.

But Id put money on all these people saying "being on the phone doesnt affect my driving"
Thats part of the problem - the same distracted brain that struggles to do these tasks is distracted from noticing you arent doing them as well as usual!

[thesameguy]

I'd suggest that those people (and I know the ones you're talking about) were awful drivers to start with. Maybe differently awful, but awful. They're so unaware of their lack of talent that when they're slightly more impaired it never even registers.

[Rare White Ape]

I know from experience that texting is a lot harder than merely talking while driving, especially since the proliferation of touchscreen phones. Even harder is facebooking; sometimes that like button is real hard to find while navigating busy intersections. Anyway, gotta go, I'm on the highway and I'm pretty sure there's a cop behind me and my helmet chinstrap is not done up. I could get booked for that.

[Dicknose]

My helmet doesn't have an Oz compliance sticker.
But it is almost hands free, one button to answer the call.
However using my right hand to separate glove from jacket to look at my watch (on left wrist) to see caller ID is probably not the best.

[Dicknose]

I'd suggest that those people (and I know the ones you're talking about) were awful drivers to start with. Maybe differently awful, but awful. They're so unaware of their lack of talent that when they're slightly more impaired it never even registers.

Actually I think most people get worse when doing other tasks and are blissfully unaware.
It definitely not just people who are bad drivers.

I know I'm getting bad at driving and talking. Not sure if this is a lack of practice (99% of time I'm in the car by myself) or just better at noticing that I'm worse!