Haha unless your guy responses are "uh huh, mm hmm". Though I am a psychologist in making (not counseling! Human Factors Psychology/Engineering ) =P but everyone seems to take the old psychoanalytical approach when thinking of psychologists so it works out for me anyway.

The most dangerous aspect about this is that most people consistently OVERESTIMATE their capability to cope with driving and handling a phonecall at the same time.

Yes, I even found this totally fascinating Stanford University study (which I linked to above already) that concluded people who multitask a lot not only perform worse while they're multitasking (at the multiple tasks involved), but when called upon later to multitask, they do it worse than people who generally do not multitask a lot. And, there's even some possibility that the effect may be permanent. That is, multitasking a lot might permanently make people more distractable and less able to focus on any task. The heavy multitaskers turned out to be less able to determine what's relevant and to have poorer memories. Ironically they think they're great multitaskers, when they're actually the worst.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/25...ful/index.html
http://www.physorg.com/news170349575.html

No.

This is clear and concise:

Removing the distraction of talking on the phone in the car: That would be safer.
The same goes for the rest of the list. Removing the distraction of <a given list of distractions> in the car: That would be safer.

There is only one way to read it unless you want to be difficult.

I have repeatedly agreed that turning off the phone before you enter the car is safer. Not having a car radio in the car is also safer. I have in fact been a passenger in a car crash caused by a car radio. Changing radio channel is dangerous as it takes a hand off the steering wheel, eyes off the road, twists your body to a side, making you pull at the steering wheel, changes the balance of your inner ear. I haven't said there's any "equals" here, I have said it's a distraction that would be safer to remove. You are argumenting with putting meanings behind my words that are nowhere near them.


No. I have said that listening to the phone ring is a bigger distraction than talking for the same amount of time. Anything you say about me coming to conclusions that any one other thing is equal to any other thing, is untrue.

Read again what I said. That you even defended yourself against the idea of this means you truly do not understand what I said at all. Reasoning. Yes, please.

I have not denied anything these studies have found. Not anything. I have come with an appending point. That the most stressful and thus dangerous part of a phonecall is when you receive it unexpectedly and are unable to safely remove the distraction. It is the most dangerous because it's an actual physical distraction. I don't care how many studies there is that say that driving and talking is dangerous. Being stung by a bee while driving is more dangerous. Getting an incoming phone call with a vibrating phone is somewhere in between. And turning off the phone is safer.

I don't know why you fight so hard, but I would appreciate if you stop putting all these words in my mouth when I clearly have more than enough words and opinions myself. I can make a fool of myself all on my own, than you vely much.

Frankly, I only continue this discussion here (quite offtopic) because I hate it when people don't seem to understand what I am trying to say. Understand, not agree. I feel that for that purpose, it would be easier if we moved this discussion over to PM.

I find this interesting too.

However, I'd like to say that I'm pretty sure that texting and driving is quite different from talking and driving. Texting has a very physical aspect of removing hands and eyes from where they belong.

Again, I am quite clear that talking on the phone WILL affect your driving negatively and it IS safer to not do it.

This is absolutely true. Infact, it's still true if you cut the quote a bit on the end.

OT: Nice degree! Make sure you get some internships/experience before your job search, I had a devil of a time finding work back in 2001 - although it was an undergrad degree.

That's actually the first time you've said that. You almost sort of said it in one other instance that I can see, but not really.

But the point that it seems like you really won't concede is that talking on the phone, including with a handsfree headset, is orders of magnitude more dangerous than all of these other distractions. So much so that multiple scientific studies have found that people drive worse talking on the phone then drinking and driving. That claim just can't be made about fiddling with the radio. Can other distractions cause an accident? Sure. Overall, in general, as a social/statistical phenomenon are they anywhere near as dangerous as talking on the phone? No. You keep throwing in other distractions to muddy the point and take attention away from how dangerous talking on the phone is, which you're defending as being safer than listening to a phone ring and not answering it.

To wit:

It's interesting that you start off that second statement saying you have not denied any of the studies about the danger of talking on the phone and driving. And then you end it denying those studies.

Honestly, I find the position that listening to a phone ring or vibrate and not answering it is more dangerous than talking on the phone absurd. Absolutely nothing supports this assertion other than your "subjective" feeling about it. Does anyone else in this forum, other than volt, find not answering a ringing phone to be "the most stressful and thus dangerous part of a phonecall"? I have cited multiple studies that look at statistically what happens and causes real accidents. Listening to a ringing phone is not on the list. You counter these studies with your "subjective" feeling. If you personally find the phone ringing so distracting, there is an obvious solution, which is to turn the phone off before you drive. So using it as an excuse to defend doing something incredibly dangerous, talking on the phone and driving, is unjustified.

The reason I keep responding to your posts, since you ask, is because, as I said in my very first post on this topic, I find it astonishing that people casually mention in public forums how they need their phone designed a certain way so they can talk on it and drive or text and drive, as if talking on the phone or texting and driving is an okay thing to do. No matter that they are selfishly endangering others. No matter that it's as dangerous as drinking and driving. I think a casual attitude about talking on the phone or texting and driving is shameful and should not pass without comment. There is no defense for these activities. It's like defending drinking and driving. So I can just not fathom why you have gone to such great lengths to focus on the distraction of a ringing phone, which could easily be fixed by turning it off before you get in the car, as an excuse to defend talking on the phone and driving, for any period of time. The safe solution is obvious, everything else is just an excuse.