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The Telecom Digest for January 7, 2014
Volume 33 : Issue 5 : "text" Format
====== 32 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
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Date: Mon, 06 Jan 2014 09:05:37 -0500
From: Pete Cresswell <PeteCress@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Study documents dangers of texting, dialing while driving
Message-ID: <hhdlc9tbq5gk14m7rjke513el615i075c4@4ax.com>
Per Fred Goldstein:
>How much of this risk has to do with the awful design of modern
>smartphones?
I would agree that they're pretty bad. You'd think somebody would
have come up with voice commands by now.
Having said that..... I read that somebody somewhere (Canada?) did a
study that suggested the main problem with cell phone use while
driving was the nature of the conversation and not the hardware.
With CB radio conversations there is an unspoken covenant between the
participants: driving comes first. Pauses/gaps in the conversation
are expected and understood.
But with a cell phone conversation no such covenant exists. The
person on the other end does not view my behavior any differently just
because I am trying to negotiate 75 mph traffic while talking. I
sense that and do my best to hold up my end of the bargain - which
leads to the phone conversation taking precedence over controlling the
vehicle.
Seems to me like some people are better at multitasking/time slicing
than others. While a passenger in a van commuting to work I have seen
people reading a newspaper while driving. Not just quick glances - I
mean reading that sucker.
Personally, I think I'm somewhere over on the left of the bell curve
so my cell phone use while driving gets restricted to furtive "I'm
crossing the bridge, should be there within the hour...." type calls.
--
Pete Cresswell
Date: 6 Jan 2014 19:43:41 -0000
From: "John Levine" <johnl@iecc.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Study documents dangers of texting, dialing while driving
Message-ID: <20140106194341.64821.qmail@joyce.lan>
>I would agree that they're pretty bad. You'd think somebody would
>have come up with voice commands by now.
My car has a horribly buggy Microsoft SYNC radio, but the bluetooth
does seem able to pair with my phone and do voice dialing. It also
reads text messages aloud.
>Having said that..... I read that somebody somewhere (Canada?) did a
>study that suggested the main problem with cell phone use while
>driving was the nature of the conversation and not the hardware.
Right -- the person on the other end rarely is thinking that you
have to drive.
R's,
John
Date: Mon, 6 Jan 2014 03:13:03 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Distracted Driving and Risk of Road Crashes among Novice and Experienced Drivers
Message-ID: <p06240827cef0142f248c@[10.0.1.11]>
Distracted Driving and Risk of Road Crashes among Novice and
Experienced Drivers
Sheila G. Klauer, Ph.D., Feng Guo, Ph.D., Bruce G. Simons-Morton,
Ed.D., M.P.H., Marie Claude Ouimet, Ph.D., Suzanne E. Lee, Ph.D., and
Thomas A. Dingus, Ph.D.
N Engl J Med 2014; 370:54-59
January 2, 2014
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMsa1204142
>From the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (S.G.K., F.G.,
S.E.L., T.A.D.) and the Department of Statistics, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University (F.G.) - both in
Blacksburg; the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD (B.G.S.-M.); and the
University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada (M.C.O.).
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Distracted driving attributable to the performance of secondary tasks
is a major cause of motor vehicle crashes both among teenagers who
are novice drivers and among adults who are experienced drivers.
METHODS
We conducted two studies on the relationship between the performance
of secondary tasks, including cell-phone use, and the risk of crashes
and near-crashes. To facilitate objective assessment, accelerometers,
cameras, global positioning systems, and other sensors were installed
in the vehicles of 42 newly licensed drivers (16.3 to 17.0 years of
age) and 109 adults with more driving experience.
RESULTS
During the study periods, 167 crashes and near-crashes among novice
drivers and 518 crashes and near-crashes among experienced drivers
were identified. The risk of a crash or near-crash among novice
drivers increased significantly if they were dialing a cell phone
(odds ratio, 8.32; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.83 to 24.42),
reaching for a cell phone (odds ratio, 7.05; 95% CI, 2.64 to 18.83),
sending or receiving text messages (odds ratio, 3.87; 95% CI, 1.62 to
9.25), reaching for an object other than a cell phone (odds ratio,
8.00; 95% CI, 3.67 to 17.50), looking at a roadside object (odds
ratio, 3.90; 95% CI, 1.72 to 8.81), or eating (odds ratio, 2.99; 95%
CI, 1.30 to 6.91). Among experienced drivers, dialing a cell phone
was associated with a significantly increased risk of a crash or
near-crash (odds ratio, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.38 to 4.54); the risk
associated with texting or accessing the Internet was not assessed in
this population. The prevalence of high-risk attention to secondary
tasks increased over time among novice drivers but not among
experienced drivers.
CONCLUSIONS
The risk of a crash or near-crash among novice drivers increased with
the performance of many secondary tasks, including texting and
dialing cell phones. (Funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration.)
...
Full text
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1204142
PDF
http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMsa1204142
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