In a conversation with a co-worker last week, I discovered that he thinks he is exempt from being distracted by a phone conversation while driving (other people shouldn’t do it, but he’s okay). My sister-in-law talks on the cell while driving frequently because she thinks it’s the only time she has to keep in touch with her friends. This has me curious as to why people are still talking on cell phones when it has been proven conclusively that it is dangerous to yourselves and others - why do you think people are still doing it? Why are YOU still doing it?
I don’t do it myself because I know it impairs the way I drive. But just about everyone I’ve talked to about this who does adopts some variation of the “Oh, I know it impairs other people, but personally, it doesn’t affect MY driving ability,” or “I do it all the time and I haven’t been in an accident yet, so I know I can do it safely.”
I’ve been in the car with some of them, and let me tell you, they can’t.
I don’t think most people buy it that the mind is distracted by talking on the phone. I mean, I’m still looking at traffic, right? How come it’s not dangerous to talk to a passenger who’s actually IN my car? Huh?? Huh??? What about THAT???
I rarely talk on my cell phone as it is, so talking on it while I’m driving is rare. I generally won’t do it if I can avoid it because it’s difficult to maintain a conversation with road noise and all and I generally believe that if I’m going to have a real conversation, I’d rather do it when I’m not occupied, as I feel it shows disrespect to the person I’m talking to that I can’t make real time for them. I do talk on the phone sometimes while driving though and when I do, it’s generally because I got the call while I was driving or I need some pertinent information; and in either case it’s generally short.
I don’t feel it’s particularly dangerous when I do. My reasoning for that is actually that I think I generally drive a little safer when I’m slightly distracted because I’m a fidgetter and I focus better in general under such circumstances. As such, I generally listen to music when I drive, often singing along or whatever, and using the phone is not terribly dissimilar for me. In fact, I’ve found that when I’m not listening to music or talking or the phone or something else, my eyes will often divert to other things, which makes me feel less safe. That is, as long as it only involves senses that aren’t involved in the task at hand, I don’t feel like it has any meaningful impact for me. By the same token, I tend to focus better of conversations when I have something to fidget; if I don’t, my mind will quickly wander off without a lot of concentration.
Many (most?) people don’t operate that way, and any secondary task distracts roughly equally from the primary task. As such, it’s probably a good idea that most people don’t use a cell phone when driving. But I think for those whose brains work like mine, it is probably a not a big deal for them either, possibly even beneficial.
That said, I will confess that anything that requires visual attention or more than a trivial amount of manipulation, notably texting, is definitely more dangerous because it necessarily distracts from what I need to drive. I’ll admit I’ve done that at times, but when I do, I’ll wait until I’m at a light or stopped in traffic before I do it.
There are some set of people around here who think they are so important that the world will come to a grinding halt if they weren’t on the phone for their 45 minute commute. They also think that they are much better drivers than other people, and so don’t have a problem.
Why they don’t use hands free is beyond me - perhaps they got this important call they just had to answer.
Some are just stupid also. Mr. Roadshow ran a column about people who thought the California law didn’t apply to them if they held the phone away from their ears.
I didn’t use them even before they became illegal, after I discovered that I had driven past San Luis Obispo on a very crowded 101 on autopilot. But I still see way too many - fewer than before the ban, at least.
I saw an article somewhere recently that noted that insurance companies have not found the level of accidents that one would expect to follow from the findings about cell-phone distraction. There is some thought that drivers who talk on their cell phones compensate by reducing the other common in-car distractions – radio, conversation with passengers, nose-picking, makeup, hair, fax machine, etc.
I selected ‘other reasons’, the main one being that a lot of people simply are bored with driving. They’d probably watch TV behind the wheel if they thought they could get away with it.
Of course, I also believe that most people who buy SUVs do so mainly for the the elevated driving position, so I may not have a valid point…
People use cellphones while driving because they **need **to. Now, **why **they need to is a different story. Why does anyone **need **to be on the phone while backing out of a parking spot? That’s what I want to know.
I don’t think any of those answers covers it. Those are the justifications people use, but I don’t think they explain why people do it.
The fact is that it is a very hard habit to break. I do it seldom or never, but I often find myself tempted to and have to remind myself why I shouldn’t. I can’t find it now, but I remember hearing an interview with a father whose daughter was hurt or killed in an accident caused by someone using a cell phone, and it still took him months to break the habit of using his own phone while driving.
I suspect nibblet head is right. There’s just something counterintuitive about it that makes humans very resistant to learning not to do it, even though the reward is small and the risk is great. I’m sure there’s a good thesis to be written on what the actual cognitive reasons are.
You left out “because they are assholes who think their conversations are more important than the life of a person who is too stupid to be driving instead of walking.”
I don’t know that talking on the cell is so much unsafe as annoying. I do it, but only for short bursts if at all because I am just not a phone talker. I get calls more like “did you feed the dog yet?” or “can you pick me up something too?”
Anyway, I swear that I see this all the time - if a driver is doing something stupid, they tend to be on a cell phone more often than not. Not watching while pulling out of a parking space? Cell phone. Stuck in the middle of an intersection because they pulled too far forward and the light turned red? Cell phone. Drifting out of the lane? Not using blinkers? Driving too slow? Blocking a “do not block intersection” intersection? All cell phone.
Now, all of this stuff tends to happen in slow-moving traffic and is more annoying than dangerous, especially since those of us not on our phones can avoid them. But a lot of their actions have the potential to be dangerous.
I was at the grocery store last night, fairly late, and there were 3 women shopping while talking on their phones. Guess what - it made them bad shopping cart drivers, too. And awkward, due to the relative vacantness of the store.
I sincerely hope this is a parody. You can’t really think this do you? You are special? Do a few pints sharpen your reflexes as well?
Is the act of concentrating on the driving not enough for you?
Seriously, you represent a danger to others around you if you talk on the phone. Everything you say in your post is merely justification that is often trotted out by those who think they are immune to distraction…you aren’t.
I hope you never come to harm, or harm others. Even though you are doing something stupid the odds are still on your side but…bloody hell, I know one very easy way to skew them even more.
I didn’t vote because I don’t think the poll options appropriately differentiate between safe and unsafe cell phone use. Just from my own experience, I believe that talking on a hands-free headset while driving a familiar route doesn’t compromise the safety of my driving in any way. So I’d say that if both of those two factors apply, talking on a cell phone while driving is safe.
The few times I’ve talked on a phone while holding it to my ear, it’s significantly more distracting. I have no idea why this is, but from the fact that all the drivers I see weaving or driving way too slow in the left lane are invariably holding up a phone, I don’t think it’s just me. I can also see how trying to talk while navigating in an unfamiliar area could be distracting enough to increase the risk of an accident – your brain is trying to do enough different things at that point that you don’t need any extra tasks.
But drivers commuting the same route every day aren’t making any decisions, they’re just keeping an eye out for the unexpected. I think a person can do both that and talk on the phone – I know I can.
And I dislike the fact that the poll choices are framed in the first person. I don’t use a cellphone while driving because I know it’s dangerous.
My answer is that that people are arrogant and stupid, especially when it comes to doing what they want to do. Why do they still drive drunk, why do they insist that they are safer in SUVs?
