# So... who's willing to tell on themselves? (re: distracted driving)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-willing-to-tell-on-themselves-re-distracted-driving/745293>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 6, 2016, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-willing-to-tell-on-themselves-re-distracted-driving/745293 "2016-02-06T03:09:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-willing-to-tell-on-themselves-re-distracted-driving/745293/41 "2016-02-09T17:39:14Z")

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Like I said in the other thread, in my experience, nothing is more distracting that texting. Not even speaking on the phone. I know studies say otherwise, but I’m talking about my own experience. It might help that I don’t just talk on the phone for the sake of talking. I’m either on the phone saying I am going to be late, or talking to my dad, and I only do the latter when I have a long stretch of straight road ahead of me (highway driving).

I have texted and drove and nothing even comes near it in terms of distraction. Everything else is a second or two of distraction at the most.

I highly, highly disagree that simply listening to music is a distraction at all. I know that if I were to sit in silence in my car, glumly staring at the road ahead of me, I would fall asleep. I listen to the music so I can sing along loudly\* and I try very hard never to eat while I am driving. I will drink coffee or my smoothie in the mornings, though.

\*Most of the time I don’t even hear the phone ringing when I drive because of this.

(Talking on the phone is more distracting than talking to people in real life. I think it’s because your car passenger will generally shut up when they see traffic situations worsen, but not always either.)

Oh, the last thing is navigating to a place. I’m mediocre at directions. I have honed many skills over the years to make myself better than mediocre, but if I am going to a new place, I still struggle. I’ve gone from paper directions to having directions on my tablet to now the best option - my new tablet has google voice, so I just say “Ok google…take me to 677 Broadway Albany”, make sure the volume is up before I start, and then just follow her instructions. I love it and it’s the best thing ever.

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