Re: Driving With Cell Phones and Guitars

[Huw Powell <human@nh.ultranet.com>]

-- [ From: Huw Powell * EMC.Ver #3.1a ] --

>>involving car phones found that the risk of being involved in a car wreck
is as
>>high as having a blood alcohol level of 0.08. 

>it's not that i'm disagreeing that cell phone use in a car distracts the
driver, of course it does. but to my mind, no more so that talking to a
passenger...when the prat phone rings, slow down, just as you should if you
are talking to someone else in the car...

Couldn't the same reasoning be applied to drinking and driving?   After all,
appropriate cautions should allow for the impaired motor abilities... The
point is that an intense telephone conversation, like alcohol, can also
impair the drivers ability to recognize and compensate for the interference.

I believe talking on the phone can require more of your available
consciousness.  There is a tendency to form an "image" of the other
conversant not necessary when they are in the car.  Also the other party
can't see the traffic and suddenly be quiet when they see the driver's
attention is needed - they can't co-drive, giving you the slight benefit of
another set of eyes on the road, or yell "hey look out for that truck stupid
!" - unless of course they are in another car nearby!

I have found the worst thing I can while driving is to imagine I am playing
guitar - it uses up too many cognitive faculties to leave enough to keep an
image of the road ahead (and around) in my mind!  That said, the cell phone
issue is silly.  There are many things one must allow for while driving, by
going slower, not passing, generally paying more attention, etc.  The
statistics should serve as no more than a warning - like that on drowsiness
inducing medications.

Why do I always perpetuate these non Audi threads?

Huw Powell
HUMAN Speakers

(insert irritating quasi-political quote here)

http://www.thebook.com/human-speakers