Posted on 04/21/2006 10:57:09 AM PDT by JZelle
Well DUH! Most accidents happen when people aren't fully alert. Would we feel better if the statistic said most crashes happen when we are at our best?
The truth is, many of us are distracted at some point during ANY drive to town, we just usually get lucky and don't have the worst thing happen during those moments.
We will NEVER reduce all the distractions of life, and trying to use this statistic to achieve that through some kind of regulation is misuse of statistics. All we can do is be aware that when we are distracted, we are at the most risk of not predicting and avoiding an impending potential accident. AND... and I mean this, we need to teach drivers to better prioritize their distractions, not try to eliminate them.
Pilots spend a LOT of training time learning how to appropriately deal with distractions and division of attention. Drivers don't, unless they learn themselves. Drivers are taught to hold the wheel with both hands and look straight ahead. Heh... If I were a license examiner, I'd have applicants for a driver's license drive through town while changing the radio station, eating a hamburger, and answering the phone. :~D It's no worse than the engine failure followed by electrical failure drills during IFR approaches I had to do for my commercial pilot license.
Yes, I can drive and talk on the phone... I might ask you to hold my burger if things get hairy.
It's funny you should mention that. About a month ago I was driving through town and I glanced into the police car that was cruising along next to me. The officer was browsing a hot rod website while driving along.
I'm sure all the drivers chatting away while they have 2 wheels in my lane feel the same way.
Then you better eliminate passengers. They talk to you too.
Folks do NOT drive while doing anything but driving.
Not realistic. Better: Learn how to multi task and divide attention appropriately while driving.
I don't know why this is news. It's more like "DUH."
Some aren't good at it. They better learn, or they're going to crash. That's my point.
(Ba-dum)
Anybody besides me bothered by those VW "sudden impact" commercials. Geez Louise. Give me some warning.
Wait a second! Where do drunk drivers fit in this survey? I was repeatedly told in driver's ed class that drunk drivers account for the majority of crashes. In fact, i remember seeing a poster that said that more people had dies as a result of DWI drivers than had been killed in all our wars. Are the researchers now saying that alcohol doesn't play as significant a role in auto accidents as had been previously thought? Something ain't right here...
Amen to that. Riding a motorcycle gives you a whole new appreciation for good drivers, and an incredible disdain for bad ones.
Worst I've ever seen: two people having sex while driving. Yep. I-93 North, Middlesex County, MA. Evening rush hour. Middle lane. He was driving, she was riding.
It's not as dangerous as phone driving: http://www.1800duilaws.com/article/study_dui_ws_talking_on_cellphone.asp
Specifically, having a conversation with someone who doesn't share your environment. Conversations with passengers rarely cause problems because they know your situation; they'll usually shut up when you need to focus on the road, and if they don't you won't hesitate to tune them out.
But yeah, hands-free devices are a feel-good non-solution, and thus very popular with politicians.
The only thing that bothers me is the way they seem to utilize profanity without actually saying it...when everyone is standing around afterwards, and one of them says: "HOLY" and it cuts to a picture of the car.
You must live here in Alabama.
Yep. I bet you saw them having sex from mile marker 23 to mile marker 47.
And someone on the phone is somehow harder to prioritize? I don't see how...
You know when people get mad at me? When I'm in the left lane and ONLY going 75 (15-20 over the speed limit) and I've left myself enough room in front to react. If the car 10 lengths in front of me slows down, I SLOW DOWN. I don't wait till I'm on his bumper and slam on the brakes. People think if I'm not on the bumper of the car in front of me, I'm not going fast enough. They get mad, pass me on the right, roll their eyes because I'm on the phone, and then park on the guy's bumper in front of me. THEY are the accident waiting to happen, not me.
The statistics you've heard or read regarding the number of accidents related to drunk driving are based on an anomaly in the way the NHTSA counts "alcohol-related accidents" in its figures. If a seriously drunk driver runs a red light and causes an accident, it is considered an "alcohol-related accident" (as one would expect). But the NHTSA also considers an accident "alcohol-related" in these cases:
1) . . . if the driver is tested for alcohol and has some level of alcohol in his system but isn't legally drunk;
2) . . . if a totally sober driver runs a red light and hits a car being driven by a drunk driver;
3) . . . if a sober driver is involved in an accident in which a drunk passenger is injured or killed; and
4) . . . (most ridiculous of all) . . . if a drunk pedestrian stumbles into the road and gets run over by a car driven by a totally sober driver.
All of these are considered "alcohol-related" according to the Federal agency that tracks these things, but very few of them are primarily attributable to alcohol in any way whatsoever.
LOL!
Of course, my friend. I had to verify that what I was seeing was indeed what I was seeing.
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