Study: Distraction behind most car crashes

Associated Press ^ | 4/20/06 | Ken Thomas

[truth_seeker]

Ad playing with Nav system, playing with satellite radio, playing with iPods, eating burgers, playing with cup holders, reading maps, tactile exploration with spouse, playing with PDA including surfing the web, etc.

[Publius6961]

But Simpson, a 20-year-old who works for a fire safety business, says multitasking can be a necessity. For example, he must take calls from customers while driving in his Chevy Astro van.

This dingbat is obviously part of the problem.
No he 'must' not.
What did he do before cell phones were ubiquitous?

[Huck]

This is nothing new either. My grandma taught me a long, long time ago that a lot of people got in accidents cuz they were fussing with the radio or looking at themselves in the mirror or something. Now we have more gadgets but the people are just the same. I see lots of people with those funny little earpiece phone thingies. hope i never have a need for one of those. i like to live and so i try to be careful on the roads. still, i do smoke cigars and drive, and drink soft drinks, and play music and radio. I just try to be very careful about it.

[Huck]

And the one accident I had when it was my fault it was because I was fiddling with my radio. One moment was all it took ... to change the station ... then BAM! (oops! what the?)

Wow, that's what I was just saying. Just like grandma taught me. I bet it taught you a lesson though, didn't it? It only takes an instant.

[Fudd]

>John Simpson of Christiansburg, Va., said his "personal favorite" is once seeing a woman in traffic "with her knees up on the steering wheel, sheet music in her lap and she was playing the flute."

Someone in my church reported seeing a freeway driver with two chimps, loose in the car. Rendundancy on the trunk monkey system?

[Rakkasan1]

this chimp was driving the car:
Two pedestrians struck when driver drops cell phone(Teen girl on cell phone)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1615253/posts

[Cementjungle]

Study: Distraction behind most car crashes

Darn. I would have guessed they happen most when people are alert. Go figure.

[Cobra64]

"I'm notorious for the cell phone and coffee. But if you're up on the road at 6 o'clock in the morning, coffee is probably the best thing in the world," he said.

The twit could get up 10 minutes earlier. As for cell phones, what did we do before cell phones? These people are a menace on the road. And yes, I have a cell phone.

[saquin]

I know many people have pointed that this study is a statement of the obvious but I don't think it's really so obvious. They're saying 80% (as opposed to previous estimates of 25% or so) of accidents are caused by simple distraction and inattention, excluding other causes like excessive speed, aggressive lane changing, purposeful running of lights and stop signs,etc. that most people think cause a lot of accidents (and they do).

[Larry Lucido]

I don't know. I think excessive momentum is behind most car crashes.

[Cobra64]

Irony...wow, no specific mention of deaf people.

Or blind people. I always wondered why they put braille buttons on the drive-thru ATM machines.

[Cobra64]

What is a bluetooth? Does flossing help?

[Larry Lucido]

Reminds me of this headline: "Plane Too Close to Ground, Crash Probe Told"

[saquin]

What did he do before cell phones were ubiquitous?

He's 20 years old. He probably doesn't even remember a time when cellphones weren't ubiquitous.

I know that shocks those of us over the age of 20 but it's true. I've never felt so old (and I'm only in my 30s) as I do when young kids around 10 or 12 years old walk up to the typewriter in the library where I work (yes, in addition to many computers we have one typewriter for people to use when filling out forms, typing envelopes or just feeling like kickin' it old school) and stare quizzically at it, then circle it cautiously and point as if it's the strange, otherwordly obelisk in 2001: A Space Odyssey and grunt "what's that?", in all seriousness. I can't tell you how many times this has actually happened and how I age measurably each time it does. :-(

I mean, maybe the kids have never used a typewriter (understandable) but surely they've seen old movies and must at least know what one is? Surprisingly, many don't.

[mysterio]

First the study comes, and then they start banning things. I don't want them to have even ONE more reason to pull people over.

[GOP_1900AD]

But the hidden factor is often something like a stupid lane change, or some dope merging poorly. Of course, the person who hits the idiot who done it is always officially blamed for the accident. Naturally, being distracted or sleepy doesn't help any regarding reaction time in response to a bonehead move.

[Old Professer]

Behave yourself!

[okiecon]

Men and women are different!? Must inform feminists right away . . .

[okiecon]

Laws of physics behind approximately 99.7% of car crashes.