# Advice for distracted drivers and/or those that distract them

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-distracted-drivers-and-or-those-that-distract-them/1025625>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 11, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-distracted-drivers-and-or-those-that-distract-them/1025625 "2025-12-11T22:39:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-distracted-drivers-and-or-those-that-distract-them/1025625/41 "2025-12-14T00:35:07Z")

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You two certainly sound pretty far out at opposite ends of the bell curve. I’m sorry you’re both dealing with that.

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**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-distracted-drivers-and-or-those-that-distract-them/1025625/42 "2025-12-14T12:38:39Z")

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> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> Married couples, ref @enipla _might_ have a more cooperative driving style.

Yeah. At our previous intersection to our house (two gravel roads), it could be hard for the driver to see to the right as there was often a piled up snow bank, so it did work well for the passenger to give a ‘clear on the right’

Now my wife did this once with a friend of hers, and the friend thought it meant it was clear in both directions. It was not. No accident though.

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**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-distracted-drivers-and-or-those-that-distract-them/1025625/43 "2025-12-21T07:52:07Z")

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> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> > [@Czarcasm](#):
> >
> > Doesn’t really work out that way in real life. I have found drivers, for the most part, are rather possessive of car control and adjustment,.
> 
> Agree in general.
> 
> Married couples, ref @enipla _might_ have a more cooperative driving style. But probably not.
> 
> My second now ex- wife was adamant that if I rode while she drove that I touch nothing, say nothing about traffic or navigation, and definitely don’t look around for hazards.
> 
> One of many reasons for her “ex-” prefix.

Between my wife and me, that does work: generally the passenger operates environmental controls (seat heating, steering wheel heating, windshield and back window heating, windshield defogging, heating set point and ventilation setting, etc.), and also mostly navigation system settings, under the overall authority and instructions of the driver - basically everything that the driver would need to look down and right. When she drives I also advise when in doubt whether or not to take an exit, or based on traffic data on my phone whether to divert (as a passenger she mostly is not interested in navigation)

A small point of contention is that I insist that I only get in or out of the car when the engine is shut off, and get out only when I see that the parking brake is set (as a result of one or two near accidents).

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