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David Brown
Guest
On 18/08/15 21:00, ceg wrote:
I am afraid my reference is merely "I read the report in a reasonably
reputable science magazine many years ago". I would like to be able to
give you something better here, but that's it.
The study was done with test subjects on driving simulators which gave
sudden emergency situations - something like a virtual kid running out
from behind a virtual ice-cream van and counting how many people hit the
kid. They got people to come in with their families, who were told to
fight in the back of the simulator. They woke up volunteers at 3 in the
morning to test driving skills while tired, and so on.
I believe the "winner" of the worst distraction while driving was eating
a packet of crisps.
Another point of interest was that drunk driving was not a problem for
Australian farmers - they were so used to driving long distances back
from the nearest pub that they could do it safely. It's the person who
drives drunk /once/ that is most dangerous.
I also read a report (with a similar reference) that had found that the
average overtaking on roads in the UK led to a seven second reduction in
journey time. So while it might make sense to overtake a tractor or
something, before you overtake that lorry or caravan you should think
"what I am going to do with these extra 7 seconds that makes this worth
the risk?".
On Tue, 18 Aug 2015 10:15:21 +0200, David Brown wrote:
Simulations also show that the dangers involved depend on how often you
talk on phones/radios while driving. People who do so regularly, such
as police, taxi drivers, etc., are able to split their attention better,
and "disconnect" from the phone if an emergency situation occurs.
People who rarely talk on phones, however, can have their reaction times
and attention reduced to the level of someone so drunk they have
difficulty getting their key in the ignition - and that's on a
hands-free phone. Using hands-free or hand-held telephones makes almost
no difference to the reaction times - the key issue is that your
attention is elsewhere.
Of course there are plenty of other causes of distraction that can be
equally bad - having an argument with people in the car, turning round
to threaten unruly kids with having to walk home, driving with a
migraine, having food or drink in the car, etc., are all high-risk
activities. Even just having hot food or drink in the car is a
significant risk - the smell of a takeaway is distracting.
Do you have any data to support those arguments?
I am afraid my reference is merely "I read the report in a reasonably
reputable science magazine many years ago". I would like to be able to
give you something better here, but that's it.
The study was done with test subjects on driving simulators which gave
sudden emergency situations - something like a virtual kid running out
from behind a virtual ice-cream van and counting how many people hit the
kid. They got people to come in with their families, who were told to
fight in the back of the simulator. They woke up volunteers at 3 in the
morning to test driving skills while tired, and so on.
I believe the "winner" of the worst distraction while driving was eating
a packet of crisps.
Another point of interest was that drunk driving was not a problem for
Australian farmers - they were so used to driving long distances back
from the nearest pub that they could do it safely. It's the person who
drives drunk /once/ that is most dangerous.
I also read a report (with a similar reference) that had found that the
average overtaking on roads in the UK led to a seven second reduction in
journey time. So while it might make sense to overtake a tractor or
something, before you overtake that lorry or caravan you should think
"what I am going to do with these extra 7 seconds that makes this worth
the risk?".