Is 'Dialing While Driving' the Worst Thing a Motorist Can Do?
Dialing while driving can sure ruin your day in a hurry. Over the weekend, a Boston trolley driver slammed his passenger-loaded trolley into another, injuring 50 people because he was distracted by text messaging his girlfriend. Just last month, a texting driver veered off of Idaho's Interstate 84 straight into a parked police cruiser. In March, a California driver dunked her car into the Oakland Estuary after trying to reach for a ringing cell phone -- fortunately, she saved her coffee. These accidents got us thinking: Is dialing (be it texting, talking, reaching, or actual dialing) while driving the most dangerous distraction on the road?
Local governments are taking action by enacting bans on texting and talking while driving, but why stop there? Handsfree units and touchscreen GPS units should be banned too, and we definitely can't allow CD players. That coffee you just bought to go? Ban it. It's not our gadgets that are causing us to drive like idiots on the road, it's distraction, which is just as likely to come from thinking about balancing a checkbook as it is to come from switching Pandora stations on your car-stereo-connected iPhone.
Back in 2006, Virginia Tech researcher Charlie Klauer co-led the '100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study.' The researchers monitored the driving habits of 100 volunteers in a study that placed hidden cameras and other sensors (like GPS and radar proximity detectors) inside the vehicles of 100 volunteers. Klauer and his team found that almost all of the crashes (and more that 60-percent of near crashes) were caused by driver distraction within three seconds of the incident. This means that it doesn't matter whether you are on your phone or reaching for a CD -- if something on the road immediately demands your full attention, you will be unable to give it.
Although cell phones certainly can be distracting, Rae Tyson, a spokesperson for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, told the Dayton Daily News that the worst deterioration in driving ability they have ever seen was a when testers told drivers to start at 842 and start subtracting by 7. By the same token, even talking to a passenger sitting next to you can be a distraction.
Sure, banning cell phones will help eliminate dialing while driving, but this is only one of the distractions on the road. We think it's more important for drivers to examine their driving habits and make a concerted effort to concentrate on the task at hand. So think about what's distracting you on the road -- just don't think do it while driving. [From: Dayton Daily News]
Wacky Sign Hacks and Mistakes
In 2008, a group of students at MIT pasted funny "DANGER" signs all around campus. Even the school's Visual Arts Center can't escape the ubiquitous Rickroll.
Hackers, seemingly pushing a pro-green agenda, figured out how to change the messages displayed on signs at the University of Toronto in Canada.
On first glance, this sign appears to offer up a normal set of bilingual directions. If you read Welsh, you may notice the problem -- the bottom translates to "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated." Looks like someone was slacking on the job, and the e-mail away message ended up pasted onto a sign.
This construction sign on the MIT campus was hacked in 2007 to alert drivers first that the sign had been hacked. The sequence was followed with, "Mass ave bridge closed," "Sunday 04/22/07 6am-3pm," and "to appease Godzilla."
This street sign in Reno City, Nevada was modded by the Glenn Group, an advertising company. While at first it doesn't seem to have anything to do with traffic, it may have helped combat road rage.
_thumbnail.jpg "Vintage Keyboards")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Christine said 3:58AM on 5-12-2009
While I see your point that all electronic devices can be distracting while driving, a CD player or a GPS unit can be set up before the driver begins operating the vehicle. That means that they do not have to take their eyes off of the road while they are driving. If you get a call or a text message while you are driving you have to take your eyes off of the road to answer it so it is much more dangerous.
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xbplaya1122 said 8:39AM on 5-12-2009
there is nothing wrong with talking on your phone while driving....its like everything else... some people just cant do it...they know who they are and it seems like they are the ones who do it most.....for the rest of us talking on a cell while driving is an extremely easy task....now texting is a completely different ball game....if you text while driving then you deserved to be in that crash.
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Chad said 12:27PM on 5-12-2009
If you want to talk while you drive get a hands free kit PERIOD. If you want to text while you drive then let someone else drive PERIOD. Any time you take your eyes off the road it is a distraction but the way most people talk on their cell phones they are distracted more than they are paying attention.
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Rudy said 7:23AM on 5-13-2009
Even a hands free cell 'phone is dangerous since it diverts attention from the driver. It isn't like taking to a passenger who has situational awareness. Using a cell 'phone while driving should be utlawed nationwide and strictly enforced.
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Rudy said 11:11PM on 5-17-2009
Talking on the 'phone while driving. whether it be a hands-free one or not, is distracting to the driver and must be avoided. There is a two way conversation with no situational awareness on the part of one party which is not the case when taling to a passenger in the vehicle. I've had several close calls with cars in which the driver had a cell 'phone to his ear. We did fine before cell 'phone and drivers need to refrain from their use while driving.
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ccvvggg said 12:29PM on 5-24-2009
I work at a hospital and we are getting more and more of these driving & texting teens, oftentimes with very serious injuries. Paralyzed for life, retarded for life due to head injuries, burdening the society. One teen survived serious injuries but will be able to walk. The retarded mother smiles and says, she does it too and sees nothing wrong with it. And we are supposed to have compassion for people like that! Very very hard to do! Driving and texting should be outlawed! These people should go straight to prison.
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