Mobile phones

[akirk]

interesting - thank you

Alasdair

[Horse]

Yet Advanced drivers still do it. Most of them would justify it by saying that they know when to do it, they can manage it safely, it's not a distraction etc etc etc. Exactly the same excuses given by the 'idiots' that we all want to see banned.

From the final link I posted

Study results indicate that drivers themselves are poor judges of their performance decrements while driving (Horrey et al., 2007).

And . . .

Do expert drivers have a reduced illusion of superiority?
Waylen, Horswill, Alexander, McKenna

It is well established that people tend to rate themselves as better than average across many domains. To maintain these illusions, it is suggested that people distort feedback about their own and others
performance. This study examined expert/novice differences in self-ratings when people compared themselves with others of the same level of expertise and background as themselves. Given that a key expert characteristic is increased self-monitoring, we predicted that experts in a domain may have a reduced illusion of superiority because they are more aware of their actual ability. We compared expert police drivers with novice police drivers and found that this prediction was not supported. Expert police drivers rated themselves as superior to equally qualified drivers, to the same degree as novices. Despite their extensive additional training and experience, experts still appear to be as susceptible to illusions of superiority as everyone else.

[Silk]

One of the problems with mobile phone use is it's usually a distraction for much longer than things like changing a CD or lighting a fag. Also the unique interaction with a distant person has been shown to be much more of a problem than more routine tasks (which isn't really surprising). Sussex Uni produced the most recent study investigating mobile phone distraction and they came to the conclusion that there was little difference between hand-held and hands-free - both were significant in extending reaction times.

They also pinned down how detrimental a phone conversation that involved the driver visualising (like 'tell me where you put that file') can be. It seems the driver's brain is overloaded and can't do the visual task of driving well at the same time.

All this "science" together with "intuition" may suggest that mobile phone use whilst driving is extremely dangerous, but I suspect it's a bit of a myth in reality - it's simply impossible to recreate the driving environment in a laboratory. The problem I have is that the exponential growth in mobile phone use simply isn't reflected in an equivalent increase in road deaths. It seems that people are just finding different ways of not paying attention. Demonising one aspect of driving is, IMO, ignoring the real problem, which is impatience and lack of attention.

I don't see how people can advocate "cruel and unusual punishment" for using a mobile phone whilst driving and, at the same time, have no problem whatsoever with exceeding speed limits.

[jont-]

I don't see how people can advocate "cruel and unusual punishment" for using a mobile phone whilst driving and, at the same time, have no problem whatsoever with exceeding speed limits.

Speed limit setting often flies in the face of prevailing research.

[Silk]

I don't see how people can advocate "cruel and unusual punishment" for using a mobile phone whilst driving and, at the same time, have no problem whatsoever with exceeding speed limits.

Speed limit setting often flies in the face of prevailing research.

If you're going faster and you hit something, then you will hit it harder. No research required.

Don't get me wrong, I like driving faster as much as anyone else on here. But that doesn't mean it's ok to do it simply because I enjoy it and not ok to use a mobile phone whilst driving because I don't.

[GTR1400MAN]

If you're going faster and you hit something, then you will hit it harder. No research required.

I've got to hit it first! If I'm not faffing about with a phone conversation or texting that is much less likely to happen.

[userLeft1]

Or maybe we should just have a vote and let the authorities give effect to popular opinion by circumventing due process.

Like we did the last 2 times we had referendums? But then we voted the way we were supposed to

The last two results didn't require a change to the status quo. That usually requires a change in the law.

Re mobile phone use;

As the risk of harm is hugely variable depending on the nature of the use then a blanket ban can realistically only result in a minor penalty. If the authorities want more then the authorities should prove more.

Deterrence can be measured by punishment multiplied by risk of getting caught. On that basis the most effective solution is increasing the chance of being caught. As that is unrealistic it looks as though we will just have to accept that sometimes the worst will happen.

[userLeft1]

If you're going faster and you hit something, then you will hit it harder. No research required.

I've got to hit it first! If I'm not faffing about with a phone conversation or texting that is much less likely to happen.

Surely that depends on the circumstances of the faffing? A quick call to say you'll be late because you are stuck in traffic unable to get out of 1st gear must have a different level of risk to a sustained conversation on a busy motorway with free flowing traffic.

[Horse]

If you're going faster and you hit something, then you will hit it harder. No research required.

A minor correction, something which you may know but others may not appreciate: adding 10mph doubles the impact force. So not simply 'harder'.

[Strangely Brown]

Adding 10mph to what speed?