Cellphone Drivers Drive Like Drunks 1032
TDavid writes "A University of Utah study claims that drivers who use a cell phone will be 'more impaired than drunken drivers with blood alcohol levels exceeding 0.08.' The study also says that use will turn a driver who is age 20 into age 70. Hands-free systems apparently don't help much either as they still require a driver to 'actively be part of a conversation.' What about in vehicle systems like OnStar?"
Related article on The Register (Score:3, Informative)
Clicky. [theregister.co.uk]
The folks at El Reg had a question:
"Which means that a 70-year-old yakking away on his cellphone has the reaction times of a 120-year-old, or have we misunderstood this rather poor analogy?"
Re:OnStar (Score:3, Informative)
And edit like? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Old People (Score:1, Informative)
Re:And edit like? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:After almost getting hit this morning... (Score:2, Informative)
The insurance companies base their rates off a statistical analysis which, frankly, trumps your anecdote.
Basically, the expected value [wikipedia.org] of any person's insurance claims can be determined based on past results of others in the same group. This applies to people as a whole as well as different age groups and social group (e.g. many insurance companies offer discounts for proof of high grades). Note the grouping can't simply be arbitrary, as they need some characteristic to link you to that group in order for the analysis to have any meaning whatsoever.
The reson the insurance companiess offer lower prices is that people in those groups, tend to rack up fewer claims, based on the histories of other drivers in the same group. In the case of married types, it just happens that people who are married are less likely to file a claim and cost the insurance company money. Whether the driver is safer because of their greater responsibilty, or thery were responsible in the first place and that won them a mate, we can not say.
Re:OnStar (Score:3, Informative)
(FWIW, Verizon is now offering OnStar coverage piggybacked onto a regular Verizon plan for an extra $10/month.)
p
Re: Documentation? (Score:3, Informative)
I'm afraid he has the science behind him, not you. Go read the studies. Conversations over the phone degrade driving ability more than conversations with someone in the same car.
He made the assertion; it is his responsibility to provide data to support his assertion. He did not do so, and neither did you. I could tell you to go read the studies that confirm that humans descended from parakeets and it would carry as much weight as what you said.
This is a basic critical thinking concept: if you make an assertion, it is your job to provide evidence to back that assertion. Otherwise you are just expressing your opinion.
Re:Pull 'em over! (Score:3, Informative)
But we've still got this handy section in the books:
Out here, all you need to do is hold up people behind you and you're fair game. I knew a guy that got cited for that when he was (stupidly) doing 50 on a 65 freeway.
Re:0.08? (Score:2, Informative)
Or
Re:Old People (Score:5, Informative)
As far as having elderly people drive... my Grandmother is already at the point where I consider her a hazard to public safety, even though she's convinced that she's a good driver. My Aunts and Uncles are afraid to pressure her into quitting driving (they might make her MAD or something! the horror!). I told them that I would talk to her about it, because her independance is not worth the lives of the family that she might kill because she got distracted at the wrong time or couldn't react quickly enough in an emergency.
I've already told my own mother that I'm taking the keys away when she gets too old. If her reaction is any indication as to how it will go when I actually try, then I'm sure to be in for a fight on that one...
Re:And edit like? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:And edit like? (Score:2, Informative)
It actually means a concentration of 0.08% of alcohol in the blood stream. In some countries this is scaled to permille, which, of course would be 0.8 0/00 which, equates, in international units with 0.8 ml/l. As you can see, the measurement units cancel each other and the value itself is a number.
The reason this number is so popular in US is that in most states this concentration is the threshold above which people are considered legally drunk.
In general, for a 90 kg male, it would take approximately 5 US beers (5 * 330ml = 1.65l) drank within one hour to achieve this alcohol concentration.
Look it up on the net for more details - they're readily available.
Re:Interesting... (Score:1, Informative)
http://www.psych.utah.edu/AppliedCognitionLab/
and follow the references...
Re:Interesting... (Score:5, Informative)
Portfolio (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.psych.utah.edu/AppliedCognitionLab/ [utah.edu]
From that index may I point out an item that appears to suggest that merely carry on a conversation even absent the mechanical problems associated with a cell phone/earbud etc. will cause impairment:
http://www.psych.utah.edu/AppliedCognitionLab/ViV
This would seem to support the use of HOV lanes not as a reward for environmental sensitivity but as a safety measure for the rest of us singletons just trying to get to work in one piece; HOV need to be partitioned from the rest of traffic to protect us, heh. And what if the passenger is wearing a skimpy dress(!)while yaking about the absolute DEAL they got at Nordstroms.
Never mind the distraction factor from changing the radio station/CD, eating, makeup, picking nose, etc. Surely tasks that involve the motor regions would be even more troublesome than simply speaking...
In another item from the DoT, all autos will now be refitted with passenger gags.
Re:This is troubling. (Score:3, Informative)
Not only does it sound bad, but it taxes your brain much more than listening to a person sitting next to you. Based on earlier studies on handsfree mobile phone use, I've often joked that the codecs used in modern telephones are lethally bad.
Re:Old People (Score:2, Informative)
Re:OnStar (Score:3, Informative)
It has wider coverage because OnStar is AMPS-based, and the AMPS analog network is more widespread than the CDMA/GSM digital networks are.
However, OnStar will become CDMA based over the next couple years, wiping out that AMPS advantage.
(And yes, I know this for a fact, considering that the PCB layouts for OnStar MY06 are printed out in a folder next to my desk.)
Re:Old People (Score:5, Informative)
I had an old guy slam the brakes to a FULL STOP in the MIDDLE lane of an Interstate (I-15 to be exact) because he missed his exit. This was 65-0 with tires locked up. I damn near rear-ended him and I had about 5 seconds between us. They car behined me almost hit me, etc.. It was damn near a chain-reaction accident. As it was, we had about 1/4 mile worth of cars backed up while he made a hard right to get on the off-ramp. I just about got out of my car to kick his ass for that one. Could have killed any number of people if everyone else on the road hadn't been paying attention.
Competency testing should be REQUIRED for ALL ages. I don't care if you're 16 or 90, if you can't drive safely, get the hell off the road! If we had cops watching more for this kind of shit and less sitting around eating donuts with thier radar on, perhaps the roads would get a little safer.
Re:Old People (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Moot point (Score:3, Informative)