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

In My Humble Opinion
21

I think there’s a real false equivalency going on with the whole “eating while driving = texting while driving.”

I don’t know about you, but I have sufficient propioception to find my mouth with my hand to feed myself even while looking at the road and traffic. I don’t need to watch my hand.

On the other hand, I DO need to look at the screen (and therefore, away from the road/traffic) in order to type on a phone. If I tried to text without looking, you’d probably end up with a message like “njkjlds ahjjnk’89 23ndsn” typed into the camera app.

22

There’s no way to drive without distractions, and even when there are no external distractions, I’m quite capable of daydreaming or trying to think of the answer to a trivia question (or a song lyric, or a date, or…), which can be even worse.

23

I’m pretty prone to road hypnosis, and I find that radio in the car (or speaking with someone on the phone) actually results in a less distracted me. Being on the phone is no more distracting for me than speaking with someone actually in the car is. On the other hand, I’ll only text or read a text in a car if the car is at a full stop.

24

I switch radio stations and occasionally check to see the name of the song playing. It doesn’t the first one doesn’t require me taking my eyes off the road but it’s still distracting. The second I would never attempt while the car is in motion because I’m just not that competent, I guess.
Since people are being honest about their bad habit of texting while driving I will admit that there was a time (many years ago) that I drove around after having been drinking on a pretty regular basis. I was an asshole. That being said, I would much rather be on the road with people who were moderately buzzed than sober people who are actively texting.

25

I think some level of multi-tasking while driving can be done safely, but I acknowledge that many people do so unsafely. So while I myself might divide my attention while driving, I do not condone it. I’ve seen too many people zip through my neighborhood with their cell phone in their face to say it’s not a problem.

26

It is pretty crazy to be driving and miles go by and I haven’t really “seen” the road. I have to believe if something of note caught my eye, I would be almost instantly pulled out of whatever my mind’s eye is seeing.

27

NM

28

When I get behind the wheel, I turn my cell phone completely off. I use the GPS in the console for directions as needed, and of course I’ll listen to the stereo, but I don’t otherwise use electronics in any way. I don’t even turn the stereo volume up or down.

29

There’s no option for “I very occasionally text and drive, and don’t see it much differently from other distractions.”

30

I’m afraid that there wasn’t meant to be one. I created this thread/poll because Bullitt proposed in the other thread that people who look down on texting while driving appear to be okay with other forms of distracted driving. I wanted to know whether that was true, and didn’t really consider the feedback from people who are already okay with texting while driving to be particularly useful to finding that out.

I figure that if you text while driving, you’re already likely to perform other forms of distracted driving, occasionally or otherwise. Truth be told, I really just wanted feedback from people like those whom Bullitt claimed to be talking about: those who think that texting while driving is bad, but will rationalize other forms of distracted driving. Sorry that I wasn’t explicit enough about that in the OP.

31

There’s no option for “It’s not all the same, and we’re always a little distracted or otherwise impaired, and some forms of texting are not so bad compared to fairly mundane distractions like fiddling with the radio.”

I very occasionally use voice input to respond to texts. My phone is mounted near my car’s A-pillar–within line of sight, but without obstructing my vision. Mostly this is for GPS and streaming radio use. Sometimes I’ll use the voice input to respond to a text, which does require hitting a few buttons to set up. I spend less time glancing at the phone as I do the other things in my car like the speedometer. If any action takes longer than that, I look back at the road, and do a full mirror scan to make sure the local environment hasn’t changed.

Obviously, looking down in your lap to type out a long text is indefensible. But then, so is trying to figure out how to change the mode on the radio in a rental car in the middle of traffic. None of this stuff is cut and dried. It depends on the situation.

No one is capable of remaining a good driver while being distracted. This is just obvious–if you aren’t looking at the road, you aren’t in control. However, some people are able to manage the degree to which they’re distracted to an acceptable level. Others are not so capable and shouldn’t have their distractions available to them. To be honest, I think there are a lot of people who shouldn’t have a radio in their cars, and some shouldn’t even have passengers when they’re at the wheel.

32

Even when that happens, you’re still semi-focused ahead where the danger is likely to be. Distracted driving is removing your eyes from the direction your vehicle is heading.

33

I have always consciously avoided any type of external distractions while driving. My mind will do enough of that all on its own.

I realize that my reflexes have never been that great, nor do I have good “hand-to-eye coordination”. My eyesight has never been so hot, either. So my best tactic is to go slow, be as careful as I can, and avoid any type of distraction. Otherwise, I would either have killed a bunch of people out on the road, or would have been dead a long time ago via automobile accident.

34

I don’t carry out conversations via text message while driving, but if I’m running late to an appointment and someone texts me asking where I am, I’ll reply with a quick “be there in 5”, when traffic conditions permit.

I will sometimes enter my destination into Google Maps on my iPhone while driving, or bring up Google Maps to see if there is traffic on the highway. If I need to do anything more involved than this, I’ll pull over or wait until I end up at a red light or something.

I don’t do this on crowded or busy streets where there could be pedestrians present, or cars pulling out of driveways, etc.

On rare occasions if I’m driving on the interstate through the middle of nowhere I’ll check for new emails on my phone or something like that.

I talk on the phone while driving whenever the need arises. Never had any close calls or found it to affect my concentration anymore than talking to someone in the car with me. Yes, at times I get distracted by the conversation, but that happens regardless of whether I’m talking on the phone or with someone in person.

In fact, in thinking about this now, I tend to have move lively and engaged conversations with passengers in person, and am more likely to make mistakes in that situation than when talking to someone on the phone. I will occasionally forget to take an exit on the highway or end up in the wrong lane approaching an intersection or something, and I tend to make those mistakes almost exclusively when talking to other people who are in the car with me.

All that said, I love driving and it is a completely effortless, relaxing, stress-free experience for me that seems to require no mental energy whatsoever. I know some people who find it incredibly taxing and stressful and have a hard time driving competently even when they’re able to devote 100% of their attention to it, and certainly I can understand how those people would perform poorly while interacting with a cell phone or whatever at the same time.

I am also a pilot, and being able to multitask while hand-flying the plane (e.g. maintaining altitude, attitude, airspeed while reading a chart, talking on the radio, operating the instruments) is a basic requirement for getting a license. Of course, no pedestrians are going to jump out in front of you at 5,000 feet AGL either…

35

My phone is only a phone and I use it about once a week. If I get a call while I’m in the car I will call the number back. I won’t even check it. It can wait. Maybe if I was on the road for a long time I might check it but I would never try to talk and drive. I can’t chew gum and walk so I know better than to risk it.

36

This.
According to this site, while neither activity is good and both are examples of “distracted driving,” texting while driving is significantly more dangerous than eating while driving. Texting is visual, manual, and cognitive - eating is just manual.

37

As someone who posted in the other thread about the danger/stupidity of texting while driving, I’m amused to see so many people proclaim they never are distracted behind the wheel. This is an impossibility if you (for example) listen to music, talk to someone else in the vehicle, have any peripheral vision whatsoever etc.

Not long ago I glanced over at something off the side of the road (for probably less than two seconds) and when I looked back ahead I was starting to drift over the center line. So I am not buying the argument that looking down at one’s cellphone for “three or four seconds” to text a brief message is OK fine.

Distractions are relative. Texting is stoopid, routine cellphone conversations aren’t much better, talking to one’s significant other in the car is less dumb but still has potential for trouble.* Tuning in another radio station if you keep your eyes on the road is a distraction, but a minor one.

*even if you’re not Johnny Manziel.

38

It’s more about how and when. If I’m going to reach for that soda or change the artist on my ipod, I choose a moment where I have a time and space cushion around me to allow for the inattention. If the situation doesn’t offer time for the distraction, then I put it off.

That cracked me up !

39

I bought a car with Bluetooth built in, so I got the cheapest Tracfone ($15) that works with it. I don’t text with this phone, as it has only the telephone keypad. The Bluetooth only requires me to press a couple of buttons on the steering wheel to answer or make calls. I don’t think that’s any more distracting than changing the radio station. I also don’t see how talking on the Bluetooth is any more distracting than conversing with a passenger.

However, I have a friend with whom I refuse to ride as a passenger. The guy can not carry on a conversation without looking at the other person, which means his eyes are off the road whenever he talks. I’m surprised he’s not dead yet.

40

I don’t know why it is, but studies seem to show that talking on the phone is more distracting than talking with someone in real life. Here’s a page with links to a few studies. It makes sense to me, I know I have to focus a bit more on phone calls than in person conversations, since I have to listen harder if the sound isn’t great, and since I don’t see their body language. Also of course, a passenger in the car is more likely to notice that you are drifting into another lane or about to go the wrong way down a street or whatever. But also, maybe people think the hands-free call is safer than a regular call, so they are less likely to be careful, so then it ends up being just as dangerous either way. Also, the hands-free texting isn’t any better than regular texting.

I’m not judging anyone who’s admitted to distracted driving, because I have occasionally answered a call or text, or looked up something on Google maps while I’m at a stoplight. But I do limit those things, and I don’t fool myself on how safe or not safe it is.