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Should cell phone drivers be singled out?

3688 messages,  Last post on Oct 27, 2009 at 11:39 AM

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What is this discussion about? Car Safety


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#3561 of 3688
Re: Distraction Research - Hands-free vs. Handheld [wsherwoo] by boaz47
Feb 12, 2009 (2:20 pm)
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Replying to: wsherwoo (Feb 12, 2009 7:20 am)

"However, the on-the-road study showed that talking/listening in a phone conversation while driving was no riskier than just driving."
 
Thank goodness the NHTSA has stepped in at this point. And thanks for giving us some input from the automotive industry. I feel a lot better about that study that one published by some medical review that had no access to and automotive data. The hands free thing had some merit and many of us had thought that would be the end of it. But some are anti technology to the extream and even this study isn't going to help them. But I for one will keep it book marked.
#3562 of 3688
Re: Distraction Research - Hands-free vs. Handheld [wsherwoo] by kdshapiro
Feb 15, 2009 (9:36 am)
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Replying to: wsherwoo (Feb 12, 2009 7:20 am)

Using the same type of design, they found a fourfold increase in the risk
of serious crash involvement among drivers using a phone at the time of the collision.

 
Glad the NHTSA acknowledges the exponentially growing body of evidence that cell phone usage has a relationship to collisions.
 
I'm going to bookmark this for the future.
#3563 of 3688
Re: Distraction Research - Hands-free vs. Handheld [kdshapiro] by lilengineerboy
Feb 15, 2009 (12:26 pm)
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Replying to: kdshapiro (Feb 15, 2009 9:36 am)

Using the same type of design, they found a fourfold increase in the risk
of serious crash involvement among drivers using a phone at the time of the collision.

 

Glad the NHTSA acknowledges the exponentially growing body of evidence that cell phone usage has a relationship to collisions.

 
How many of those 500 drivers had previously been involved in a collision?
 
How many of those 500 drivers were intoxicated?
 
How many of those 500 drivers were under 20 or over 60?
  
 
Wireless Quick Facts
 
So in going from 28.1 million wireless subscribers in 1995 to 195 million in 2005 to 263 million in 2008 there hasn't been quite the upheaval and catastrophe that was predicted.
 
Most research based studies include a peripheral detection task of some sort which is to capture the response time issue. In most cases, it doesn't appear significantly different than the "just drive" task. In those cases where there is a statistically significant different, some aren't actually significant in the real world.
#3564 of 3688
Re: Distraction Research - Hands-free vs. Handheld [lilengineerboy] by kdshapiro
Feb 15, 2009 (6:09 pm)
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Replying to: lilengineerboy (Feb 15, 2009 12:26 pm)

Yes, that is part of the problem acknowledged by the NHTSA in the whitepaper....failure to collect concrete statistics in the US due to difficulty in obtaining cell phone records. So much of the extraplation took place overseas where it is easier to obtain cell phone records.
#3565 of 3688
STATISTICS are for liars--except sometimes even liars tell the truth by vinnyny
Feb 16, 2009 (8:07 am)
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We could argue the statistical methods used in these studies and cite contrary study results all day long. Why not just leave the statistical analysis to the science dweebs buried in their labs?
 
The truth of the matter is that anyone using a cell phone while driving is more dangerous--period. All other things being equal, the more extraneous tasks a driver is performing necessarily detract from his primary duty of driving. It doesn't matter what one is doing other than driving--if it doesn't directly support the activity of driving, then it detracts from the driver's ability to drive well-period. Any survey that says anything different constitutes more lies from parties that have some interest in the outcome of the study.
 
Sometimes good old anecdotal evidence is the best kind. As a Jets/Mets season ticket holder, I drive from SE VA to NY more than twice monthly--about 900 miiles round trip. Virtually every time I see someone on the interstates doing something stupid, they are doing something other than just driving. While most of the dopes have cellphones to their ears, some are eating, reading, smacking kids around, applying make-up or the worst of all: text messaging. If cops worried as much about distracted drivers as they did speeders, we'd have fewer accidents. No, I don't have statistics to back it up--just plain old common sense.
#3566 of 3688
Re: Driving Distractions by wsherwoo
Feb 16, 2009 (9:15 am)
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Replying to: vinnyny (Feb 16, 2009 8:07 am)

You make very good points. The government study, however, concluded that talking cell phones is statistically the same as "normal" driving, which includes many of the other issues you discussed. This is more compelling since they are one of the only groups to study drivers in the real world. Much of this depends on where you set the baseline and we think this is a very reasonable approach.
#3567 of 3688
Re: STATISTICS are for liars--except sometimes even liars tell the truth [vinnyny] by boaz47
Feb 16, 2009 (9:54 am)
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Replying to: vinnyny (Feb 16, 2009 8:07 am)

"Sometimes good old anecdotal evidence is the best kind. As a Jets/Mets season ticket holder, I drive from SE VA to NY more than twice monthly--about 900 miles round trip. Virtually every time I see someone on the interstates doing something stupid, they are doing something other than just driving. "
 
Good point. And they had a driving while distracted law that covered all of the things you mentioned. But as far as personal observations? You see what interests you or bothers you the most. When you buy a new car that you don't realize other have what do you see more of than you ever did before/ You see that model car. When I used to drive up the 210 to the 5 to go north of LA I would see cars in the center lane going slower than the flow of traffic. I happen to be big on lane control and have always believed slower traffic should move right. It seemed to me 8 out of 10 of the middle lane drivers were of Asian decent, or Asian looking. Do I then assume Asians are worse drivers than others? Maybe there were just more asian looking drivers in that area.
 
The NHTSA study will give ammunition to hands free proponents to keep the technology in the car. Doesn't mean it will stop the efforts to get rid of it but this is a political battle where the economy and safety will both be concerned. People will have to weigh the risk and eventually vote their conviction.
#3568 of 3688
Re: STATISTICS are for liars--except sometimes even liars tell the truth [boaz47] by vinnyny
Feb 16, 2009 (6:57 pm)
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Replying to: boaz47 (Feb 16, 2009 9:54 am)

I agree with the concept that our perceptions may be skewed. However, I think that ALL of the dopes doing anything other than driving when they should be driving should get tickets. Unfortunately, the cops are too busy looking for run of the mill speeders to worry about the truly dangerous drivers out there (which sometimes includes speeders). Text messagers are merely the most heinous offenders...
#3569 of 3688
Re: STATISTICS are for liars--except sometimes even liars tell the truth [vinnyny] by kdshapiro
Feb 16, 2009 (8:38 pm)
Reply

Replying to: vinnyny (Feb 16, 2009 8:07 am)

You are absolutely correct. If I had my way I would ban cell phone usage by drivers except for emergency communications. I have dodged more cell phone drivers over the last year or so than latte drinking, makeup applying, newspaper reading, lunch eating drivers.
 
Common sense in conjunction with innumerable studies shows the true impact of cell phone usage, even if every cell phone driver doesn't end up in the morgue, there is a definite lack of attention to driving, which is very noticeable.
#3570 of 3688
Re: STATISTICS are for liars--except sometimes even liars tell the truth [k by lilengineerboy
Feb 17, 2009 (4:36 am)
Reply

Replying to: kdshapiro (Feb 16, 2009 8:38 pm)

I have dodged more cell phone drivers over the last year or so than latte drinking, makeup applying, newspaper reading, lunch eating drivers.
 
Which is all stuff they may or may not be doing if not on the phone.
 
Common sense in conjunction with innumerable studies shows the true impact of cell phone usage, even if every cell phone driver doesn't end up in the morgue, there is a definite lack of attention to driving, which is very noticeable.
 
Crash deaths are down
 
Yup, its just terrible out there...crash rates going down year after year, fatality rates going down year after year, terrible. Apparently, the impact of cell phone use is dropping off the table, especially after a 250% increase in subscriptions over the last few years.

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