Many of those “distractions” are needed breaks to prevent us from falling into road hypnosis. In heavy traffic, people will automatically devote more attention to the road. But in light traffic, where there is no reason to focus so intently on the road, boredom can quickly set in, causing sleepiness or “zoning out”, which is extremely dangerous.
Has there been a study on the effects of completely removing “distractions” on people’s ability to keep as much attention as necessary on the road? I would predict that “distraction-free” driving is just as dangerous as driving around watching your cellphone.
Several years ago, my son and I drove on a straight desert road in California. There was nothing out there, no trees, light poles, or structures. Yet the road was lined with crosses, more than I have ever seen on any other road. I wonder, could some of those crosses be the result of drivers being so bored on a straight and featureless road that they fell asleep and crashed?
I recently gave up my drivers license due to my age. (More about this in a freepmail)
But when I was still driving I never answered my phone when it was ringing, I also did not turn the radio on while driving. I do this not because it is the law, but for my own safety.
Good points.
Also, when a drive becomes “familiar”, the normal human tendency is to “zone out”, as you put it. I have a roughly 1-1/2 hr. drive I have been making “back and forth” for 30 years, 1-3 times a week. It’s a nice drive, but much of it involves the SAME stretch of rural Interstate. Occasionally I take another route, but, those take substantially longer and are less safe (say the statistics). (The time lost is at least sometimes in a sense a part of life lost too.)
Of course one has to be on heightened alert / pay extra close attention to driving when near other vehicles, in heavy traffic, etc., but how long can that level be continuously be maintained under, as you tab them, “boring” conditions? Humans, especially non-young humans, lacking other “inputs”, are just not made that way...
I suppose some people are “frightened” drivers — ie., uncomfortable with it all the time, but I’d submit they are more dangerous than a confident driver with a hands free cell phone or the radio on to help avoid boredom.
Without “distractions” (radio playing, cell phone conversation, conversation with passenger) I’d probably be dead 20 times over by now. Not to mention whoever I hit.