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Re: Mobile phones

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 4:29 pm
by akirk
Strangely Brown wrote:"People can't multitask very well, and when people say they can, they're deluding themselves,"


but we all know that a human can do two things - just with deterioration in each task - think of a pedestrian texting on their mobile while walking - they are still walking / they are still texting, so they are doing two things (multitasking), but in reality their route might wander more / be less deliberate; equally their texting may have more inaccuracies / be completed slower than if the pedestrian stands and texts...

so the debate is surely around degradation - not whether both can be done together?
i.e. does the conversation mean that the level of degradation takes quality of driving below what is acceptable, and that is very difficult to quantify, it must depend on the starting point (driver's ability) and how much the conversation removes concentration from the driving...

one thing that is noticeable is that if you add in distractions (such as a conversation) you are less likely to remember where you drove - does that mean that your driving was of a lower quality - or does it mean that the brain carried on with the driving at a more sub-conscious level and your 'memory of the drive' functionality was degraded - which ultimately doesn't matter? If therefore there is a higher level of ability grooved into the sub-conscious, then surely the multitasking is more possible?

Alasdair

Re: Mobile phones

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 4:36 pm
by Horse
akirk wrote: but we all know that a human can do two things - just with deterioration in each task - think of a pedestrian texting on their mobile while walking - they are still walking / they are still texting, so they are doing two things (multitasking), but in reality their route might wander more / be less deliberate; equally their texting may have more inaccuracies / be completed slower than if the pedestrian stands and texts...

so the debate is surely around degradation


FF to 0:21



Strangely Brown wrote:"People can't multitask very well, and when people say they can, they're deluding themselves,"


Indeed :)



And the old fave:


Re: Mobile phones

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 8:25 pm
by mainbeam
Matt1962 wrote:

I don't agree. Although it is obviously possible to operate a hand held phone whilst driving, I think it would be much harder to avoid being distracted by it. Turning all your attention away from a hands free call back to driving can be instantaneous - not so if you have to first decide when to put the phone down.


That isn't convincing. In my experience interrupting a hand-held call is no different to interrupting a hands-free call. Perhaps your hands-free skills are better developed than you hand-held skills.

Re: Mobile phones

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 8:28 pm
by mainbeam
akirk wrote:
so the debate is surely around degradation - not whether both can be done together?
i.e. does the conversation mean that the level of degradation takes quality of driving below what is acceptable, and that is very difficult to quantify, it must depend on the starting point (driver's ability) and how much the conversation removes concentration from the driving...


Such a detailed enquiry isn't practical on a case by case basis hence the benefit of a blanket ban (assuming enough notice is taken of it).

Re: Mobile phones

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 8:18 am
by Gareth
Strangely Brown wrote:The reality is that you cannot concentrate on two things at once and if the phone conversation causes you to use your visual cortex to understand a question or formulate a response - something over which you have no control - then using it for something required by the driving task is simply not possible.

I'm glad we don't ask police drivers to do this, then.

Re: Mobile phones

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 9:19 am
by Strangely Brown
Gareth wrote:
Strangely Brown wrote:The reality is that you cannot concentrate on two things at once and if the phone conversation causes you to use your visual cortex to understand a question or formulate a response - something over which you have no control - then using it for something required by the driving task is simply not possible.

I'm glad we don't ask police drivers to do this, then.


Why do you think they are different to anyone else? I wonder how many incidents involving emergency service vehicles had the driver engaged in a radio/phone call at the time?

Re: Mobile phones

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 9:52 am
by Horse
Strangely Brown wrote:
Gareth wrote:
Strangely Brown wrote:The reality is that you cannot concentrate on two things at once and if the phone conversation causes you to use your visual cortex to understand a question or formulate a response - something over which you have no control - then using it for something required by the driving task is simply not possible.

I'm glad we don't ask police drivers to do this, then.


Why do you think they are different to anyone else? I wonder how many incidents involving emergency service vehicles had the driver engaged in a radio/phone call at the time?


viewtopic.php?f=8&t=445

Re: Mobile phones

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 10:35 am
by akirk
It seems that there is so much detail in this discussion, and so many variables that I would suggest an alternative...
- Make everything legal
- Make it illegal to drive dangerously

then you can do whatever you want as long as the level of your driving doesn't deteriorate enough to cause any issues...

:)

lets face it - the law has nothing to do with what is logical at all - it is simply what is politically important / easy to prosecute!

Alasdair

Re: Mobile phones

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2017 6:15 am
by Astraist
akirk wrote:but we all know that a human can do two things - just with deterioration in each task - think of a pedestrian texting on their mobile while walking.


Essentially, no.

Humans barely multitask at all. They simply switch their attention back and forth between two or more tasks. They don't do them simultaneously.

Or so my Psychology-educated fellow driver coaches claim.

Re: Mobile phones

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2017 7:59 am
by akirk
That can't be true...
We can all walk / breath / etc. simultaneously - I can walk, breathe and juggle at the same time - loads of combinations of things we can do together...
It must be about balance between subconscious and conscious surely?

Alasdair