I Hate Texters

It won't because it depends on the individual.

 

Indeed, you and I might react differently, but can we make any statement regarding a larger (statistically significant) population of drivers?

 

i believe studies have been done, showing that the brain reacts differently when the conversation is not with someone in the car.
eye contact with passengers may be a more difficult thing to study, and more individualized. i'm sure some people continually crane their necks when talking with passengers. i have been in cabs where the drivers do it, it is scary.
that's a difficult one to stop, but phone use isn't.

 

I was talking about texters with my son today, after someone drifted a bit into our lane, and then back over, started drifting off the other side. My son demonstrated something (it was me driving): he can basically push one button on his phone, and from then on, send a text to someone on his phone list, purely by talking to the phone. I'm still not that impressed, don't even like hands-free Bluetooth phone calls, know they're distracting (per @bisco post #43), but yeah maybe they'll come up with some compromises, with voice commands and dictation.

 

It does. For me, it's far less distracting than talking to someone in the car. And it's a thousand times less distracting than breaking up a fight between my kids in the back seat.

 

But sometimes its better when there are 4 eyes looking out in front than 2.

 

Anyone here old enough to remember similar conversations when they started putting radio's in cars...The distraction level would not be tolerable, the radio noise prevents you from hearing other cars or warnings, etc...

We live in a world with lots of distractions and are constantly pushing the edge. Some handle this better than others.

 

wow, i'm 63, and radio's have been standard since i started driving. what would you have to be, a hundred?

 

Just some pop psychology on my part but it seems like when someone is in the car with you that they are in your immediate situation and your brain is aware of that. Whereas in a phone call the other person is, for lack of a better word sort of disembodied, and in sort of an ethereal place, and your brain tends to go to that ethereal place while talking to them, taking you out of your current situation. At least that's what I experienced and why I stopped even hands-free phone calls while driving. Also when someone is in the car it seems like you don't have to be talking all the time, there usually isn't that sense of awkward silence like you might have in other situations. Whereas on a phone call the talking tends to be nonstop every second, including while you are in the middle of a U-turn in a busy intersection, or merging onto a freeway in front of a semi.

True though that each individual is different. I rode with my former boss many times, he didn't text but he was always on the phone the whole time, but I never sensed any lack of attention as far as driving. Some people are better at multitasking than others, although I would say it's a small percentage that can do it well. The problem is that everyone thinks they can even when they can't.

 

and the ones that can't are a danger to others on the road. maybe there should be a test.

 

Yep, radios have been in cars since the late 1930's (even before my time). Galvin had one of the first cars with a radio and he was disgusted with it's quality. Since he owned Galvin industries in Chicago and was an engineer, he decided the design a better one. He called it the "Motor Ola". It was a big success so he renamed his company Motorola.

JeffD

 

Our first Civic didn't have the luxury of radio, and I recall our kids brought along a little transistor radio one time, and I found it really distracting. You adapt I guess, but something suffers in the process.

When they clicked on that little radio, it was the famous stripper theme song blasting out, lol.

 

But when did radios become standard equipment in all cars?

 

Maybe mid-eighties? It was not standard in our 81 Civic. I'd think the imports were more basic though.

 

The real litmus test for being old is when you remember 8-track players in cars. I don't know if very many cars had them built in, I mainly remember people installing them under the dash.

I always found it amusing listening to an album and it would switch tracks right in the middle of a song.

 

I must be an old geezer.
I actually worked on repairing 4 channel Stereo 8 Track players. Yes, only 2 groups of tracks per tape. Aligning the players was sometimes a challenge. Stereo has 4 groups per tape.

Whereas stereo media has left and right channels, quad media had four — two lefts and two rights (front and rear). Quad 8-track tapes used all eight tracks, like stereo tapes, but you only have to play through the tape twice to hear the whole album.

Quadraphonic 8-track tape cartridges • MegaMinistore

 

How about learning cursive with pen and ink? That didn't last long for me; they switched the class to new-fangled ballpoints, that had the same shape as the old-school pens, just a few months in. I thought the pen and ink was pretty cool at the time. But being a leftie, it meant I had to crook my hand when writing, to avoid plowing into fresh ink.

 

mid eighties? i'm thinking canada took to radio's later than u.s.?

 

I'm one who's far more distracted by people in the car than on a hands-free phone. Does that mean I shouldn't be allowed to carry people in my car?

 

i suppose you would have to petition your congressman for that one. you can't please everyone with new laws, but i would vote to ban cell phones in cars. i pull over when i need to make a call.