Driving While Distracted More Dangerous Than Supposed 418
Science News reports on recent research indicating that any kind of multitasking while driving is dangerous. Not just the obvious distraction of juggling a cell phone, but even talking to a passenger or listening to a book on tape. The researchers used a driving simulator inside an MRI machine to measure brain activations. "Attending to what someone says galvanizes language-related brain areas while simultaneously reducing activity in spatial regions that coordinate driving behavior. This finding suggests that people who combine relatively automatic tasks, such as speech comprehension and car driving, exceed a biological limit on the amount of systematic brain activity they can accommodate at one time, the researchers propose. As a result, the less-ingrained skill — in this case, driving, which is learned long after a person grasps a native language — takes a neural hit."
Not completely straight-forward (Score:4, Informative)
Even just talking to a passenger? (Score:3, Informative)
Highway hypnosis is even more dangerous (Score:5, Informative)
However, the OPPOSITE is true for driving long distances on relatively empty freeways in rural areas. Take, for example, the 600 mile stretch from El Paso, TX to San Antonio, TX which consists of an abundance of two things: diddly and squat. If drivers on this stretch has no other stimulus, they are in danger of entering the highly dangerous state of hypnotic disassociation (sometimes calls highway hypnosis or white line fever), where the conscious brain practically shuts down and you go into auto-pilot -- completely unable to react to anything quickly. If something does happen suddenly, the driver "snaps out" and is disoriented for a second. Usually by that point, its already far too late.
Keeping your mind alert through talking to a passenger or listening to heavy metal on the radio actually helps prevent this condition.
Re:I'm all for a certain amount of regulation... (Score:3, Informative)
>
> Everybody is against that.
Definitely not everyone is where I live !!!
I live in Germany and cycle everyday to work. Handsfull car phones have been illegal for some time here. My favourite game whilst sitting at a junction waiting for the lights to change is to watch the cars on green going across the junction (I am usually at the head of the queue as I am in the cycle lane). More often than not I will see at least one phone user during the single phase that I am sitting there for.
Re:I'm all for a certain amount of regulation... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I'm all for a certain amount of regulation... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I'm all for a certain amount of regulation... (Score:3, Informative)
The aim should be to to encourage drivers to act reasonably on their own and to provide technology which avoids as much distraction as possible. Based on personal experience* this works quite well compared to new laws.
*I'm living in one of the few countries not featuring a general speed limit. I love to cruise at 150 miles/h (240km) on the highway, but if there is anything distracting my focus (weather, my sister, an interesting radio feature about something) I'll switch to the slowest lane and try to make the best of my time. The general crowd over here seems to have a similar opinion regarding this - we have less accidents and less deaths per driver compared to the US. On the downside it takes more time and costs way more money to get a driver's license.