How is it any different from talking to a passenger?
We hosted a small gathering for my step daughter乌鸦传媒檚 30th birthday. She got to hear my road safety pitch about the ridiculousness of banning hand held, but not hands free cell phone use, 乌鸦传媒渇or the 500th time乌鸦传媒�.
The topic just sort of came up when I was chatting up one of her friends. It always comes up. I乌鸦传媒檓 like a child at show and tell with some shiny cool thing I乌鸦传媒檓 dying to share.
She might have thought it was cool the first time. Noting that it was 乌鸦传媒渇or the 500th time乌鸦传媒� is a strong clue that any shine it might have had has been lost.
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Her friend kindly showed interest in what I had to say.
His immediate response was a predictable one because 500 of 500 folks I share my pitch with respond with the same question: 乌鸦传媒淗ow is it any different from talking to a passenger?乌鸦传媒�
It乌鸦传媒檚 a very reasonable question, because my pitch is based on a similar kind of comparison.
We all agree, I think, that hand held cell phone use is dangerous and illegal. My pitch is that since the hands free version has been scientifically proven to pose the same level of danger, it should also be illegal.
The flip side of that coin is that talking to a passenger is legal and, presumably, safe. Hands free cell phone use seems a lot like talking to a passenger. Therefore, shouldn乌鸦传媒檛 hands free cell phone use be legal as well?
Please understand that I take no credit for the 乌鸦传媒渉eavy lifting乌鸦传媒� of scientific study and analysis that forms the basis of what I am about to share with you. I do have over 20 years of experience sorting out what causes car crashes and the science and analysis fits my experience, but please don乌鸦传媒檛 discount what I tell you on the basis that I might be some crazy maverick.
And if you have any doubt at all about what I am sharing with you and have a genuine interest in learning about this stuff, please ask and I will send you some reading material.
Fully 50 per cent of the car crash cases I handle arose when a driver inexplicably failed to notice that the traffic ahead had come to a stop and drove into the back of a stopped vehicle.
Most of the other 50 per cent are a mix of all sorts of other driving scenarios where the offending driver was simply not attentive to what was going on. A driver looking in the direction of an approaching vehicle but somehow not 乌鸦传媒渟eeing乌鸦传媒� it, looking out the windshield but somehow failing to notice a stop sign, etc.
That乌鸦传媒檚 what the science says occurs when your brain is elsewhere, talking on a cell phone while driving. You are looking out of your windshield, but 乌鸦传媒渕issing乌鸦传媒� up to 50 per cent of what乌鸦传媒檚 there.
A passenger is another set of eyes. How many times have you played 乌鸦传媒渂ack seat driver乌鸦传媒�, alerting the person behind the wheel that he is about to miss a turn? Or alerted with a, 乌鸦传媒淗ey!乌鸦传媒� and/or noticeably bracing yourself when the driver was roaring up behind stopping traffic at a changing light or seeming to miss other road hazards?
And please, next time you乌鸦传媒檙e chatting away with a passenger, notice what happens when traffic becomes the least bit complicated. The pace of discussion automatically slows as both of your brains become more engaged with the roadway.
As I was explaining this to my step-daughter乌鸦传媒檚 friend, I was delighted to see that his eyes weren乌鸦传媒檛 glazing over. And after puzzling about it a bit, he came up with another piece that I had not read about nor come up with on my own.
Chit-chat with your passenger is more likely just that: chit-chat. The polite filling of dead air space to avoid an uncomfortable silence.
A cell phone discussion is more likely to be a purposeful and engaging communication. You don乌鸦传媒檛 pick up your phone and call folks to fill dead air space. And when you乌鸦传媒檙e done talking you hang up.
I haven乌鸦传媒檛 seen any science on this point, but it makes sense to me that a purposeful and engaging communication is more likely to be cognitively distracting than idle chit-chat.
The problem with cell phone use while driving is that you are engaging your brain in something other than the road ahead of you, leading you to 乌鸦传媒渕iss乌鸦传媒� up to 50 per cent of what is going on in your field of view, and that this is no different whether you are talking hand held or hands free.
Is it similarly distracting to engage your brain in a discussion with your passenger? I imagine so, and please keep that in mind!
But idle chit-chat discussions with your passenger are unlikely to be as distracting as purposeful and engaging cell phone discussions. And a passenger is another set of eyes, able to alert you to things you miss and adjust the pace of the discussion to fit more complicated traffic situations.
Are you ready to support me in pushing for an all-out ban on cell phone use while driving?
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