10/18/96
DEAR Dr. Driving,

A recent issue of the Maui News contained an article about you and your campaign to promote careful driving this is a subject i've been harping on for years. People must have no idea how dangerous vehicles can be, judging from the way they drive. Not only do virtually all drivers speed, they actually get angry and aggressive toward the few of us who try to maintain the speed limit. I feel the posted speed limit is usually pretty fair and always fast enough---you simply allow yourself enough time to get to your destination sensibly. I've been honked at, flipped off, yelled at, headlight-blinked and more, because i drive the way we're supposed to drive: observing the speed limit and actually stopping at stop signs, instead of just slowing down. I believe most people aren't really in a hurry---they're just more comfortable moving at the higher speed they've grown accustomed to. 

Then there are those who just don't want to be behind somebody, a point made evident by those who tailgate impatiently, finally pass, then stay 300 yards in front of you. If they only knew: if your drive the speed limit, you're always in front! whatever their reasons, common sense goes out the window, and normally nice friends and neighbors turn mean when they're forced to share the road with a person who's "crime" is driving carefully. Pretty sad. I wonder what they tell their kids who say, "but, dad, we're going the speed limit". They're telling them, in one way or another," the law doesn't apply to us". These are the same geniuses that won't use their turn signals, or their headlights at dusk.

My friends have told me that if i'm driving "only" the limit and an accident occurs when someone passes me dangerously, it would be my fault! This is absurd! I'm not obstructing traffic, i'm driving as fast as legally allowed. Here on Maui, we have few roads that are more than two lanes. I feel that more four-lane highways would help. But until that day, something needs to change. The police here either don't care or are suffering from "down-size syndrome". I've seen people speed and run red lights or stop signs right in front of the police, and they look the other way. I used to drive 3 or 4 mph over the limit to try to please the tailgaters, but that's not good enough for many of them; so now i drive the limit and hope i make a point. I had a sign on my last car: "no need 2 speed", and it seemed to help. When my car gave up the ghost, i tried to do without one, since i'm so disgusted with drivers. However, a 15-mile commute by bicycle proved too hard, so i'm looking for a car again.why can't people realize that if there's ever a time to be rude, it's not on the road.

I am a radio disc jockey at koni 104.7 fm. My catch-phrase on the subject has been, "observe the speed limit. It won't kill you." i like your idea about using public service announcements to bring attention to this serious matter. If there is anything i can do to help, including writing and producing psa's , i'll be glad to help. And thanks for letting me sound off! Sincerely,

Tess

Please see my suggestions for PSA Radio Spots here

Date: Thu, 7 Nov 1996 09:48:38 -1000
To: dyc@drdriving.org
Subject: Re: Car phones--a traffic hazard?

On Wed, 06 Nov 1996 23:39:45 -1000, you wrote:

I received this message about drivers who use car phones. I think it's an interesting topic to which I don't know the full answer:

One of the things that upsets me most is people talking on their cellular phones as they drive. To me it's a symbol of how inconsiderate people have become thin king that what they have to do or say on the phone is more important than the safety of the people around them. They can't possibly be paying attention to their driving and I believe it creates a safety hazard. I would like to yank the phones out of their cars and smash them to little pieces. Realistically I would like the states to pass laws making it illegal to use a cellular phone in a car and going one step further require autophone manufacturer's to put an interlock in the ignition system so the only way a call could be received or sent would be to pull over!

Mr. K. comments on this letter:

OK, Doc, so why did you pull the identity off this one? So we can't flood his/her mailbox with THANKS? I haven't yet met anyone I consider an accomplished driver who DOESN'T feel this way. Well, maybe I don't want to smash the phone into little pieces. Personally, I'd rather send a heat-seeking missile up the tailpipe. I just LOVE the opportunity to get my nose beside one of these in an open window and hit the horn.

Quoting Leon James:

It SEEMS that yes, using a phone in the car MIGHT make a driver more careless through divided attention. But I don't think it's a necessary consequence. In other words, many drivers could handle it without being less alert. For that reason I'm not sure about laws. Inexperienced drivers who get involved in a conversation can become careless as a result. There's no problem for experienced drivers.

SEEMS? MIGHT? Are you out of your pineapple-pickin' mind? How many drugs are you on? OF COURSE divided attention will make a driver more careless. What I've been taught is that the human mind can retain only 7 items at once in short term memory. How many items of information do you believe good, attentive driving requires?

In BMW driver schools I've taught, we once considered this issue so important that we removed our instructors from the students' cars to REDUCE divided attention. Our experience is, when one analyzes what went right or wrong on the previous turn, one almost invariably screws up the upcoming turn as a result of divided attention. We still make efforts to reduce divided attention by not talking much or by pulling into the pits to talk about problems we see.

Don't misunderstand these schools. These aren't beginning drivers; they're almost all quite experienced. They are upgrading their skills to become BETTER drivers by learning their cars' capabilities as well as their OWN capabilities. And talking on the phone isn't one of them.

If you don't buy this theory, I'd invite you to ride at about 100 mph through Road America's Kink in a stock BMW with any of these drivers: first without a phone, then with his/her spouse on the other end of the line. Try to run a lap under 3 minutes this way. I'm betting you're a LOT more likely to collect concrete, pea gravel, and Armco the second time through. Why? DIVIDED ATTENTION!

Quoting Leon James:

I've heard of one experiment (not recommended) in which a TV screen was projected towards the front of the driver a few feet outside the windshield. Trained drivers can learn to handle it (watching TV) without getting them into crashes (so I read...). Some of my students confess that they do many things in the car -- singing, reading, eating, putting on make up, talking on the phone, shaving, and more. So this whole issue is to be examined carefully before premature remedies are offered that unnecessarily legislates our behavior. Any thoughts?

Yes. I agree that we should solve the problem with as little governmental intrusion as possible. Let's analogize this issue to seatbelt use. I doubt anyone here seriously disagrees that wearing seatbelts is a good idea. We KNOW that, if everyone had done it years ago, we wouldn't have "motorized mice" and airbags required in cars now. Why did that happen? Because the great majority of drivers out there is TOO DAMNED STUPID to use simple common sense measures to make driving safer for themselves or for others. They STILL ARE! If everyone would simply HANG UP AND DRIVE, we wouldn't have to legislate to force the common sense behavior of PAYING ATTENTION while you're guiding a 2-ton projectile down the street.

I'm ashamed to admit that I've done some of those things above. I've sung (often), I've eaten (occasionally), and I've shaved (once) in my car. I did not take my eyes off the road during any of these activities, and I did NOT do any of them in moderate or heavy traffic. Rolling into typical Cleveland, Chicago, or Milwaukee traffic, the radio goes OFF and I go into FULL DRIVING MODE.

You should know, Leon, that the most important sense we have for driving is VISION. Can you drive deaf? Yes. Blind in one eye (No depth perception)? Yes, with caution. No feeling in your hands or butt? Yes again. But without vision? ABSOLUTELY NOT! ANYTHING that takes your eyes off the road is dangerous to a greater or lesser degree. In moderate or heavy traffic, an activity like reading, applying makeup, watching TV, or even, IMO, looking at a passenger with whom you're conversing is foolhardy and stupid, regardless of your experience.

Carrying on a telephone conversation is close, although it doesn't involve vision as much. I applauded Chrysler's use of hands-off phones in their vehicles. I'm willing to allow that these are no more of a problem than having a passenger talking to you in your car (Not that this ISN'T a problem. If the Loop is nasty enough, I tell my wife to shut up so I can drive.), but the use of a hand or the tilt of a head (You DO teach your students to keep their heads straight up and their eyes level, don't you?) to hold a phone is too much for me to tolerate except when there is NO other traffic nearby. My solution?

***HANG UP AND DRIVE!***

If you must use the telephone, PULL OVER and STOP! Ask yourself why I may be the only lawyer in the nation WITHOUT a car phone. Hell, I don't even golf. ;-)

C.R.

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I posted a reply to one portion of his comments:

OK, I'm not at all inclined to question this. As you say, you are the expert FAST driver who is talking about what you know. I respect that. However, the situation may not be the same in every day ordinary driving situations as millions of drivers commute to work (average trip length according to a recent survery: 37 minutes). According to my research for the past 20 years almost every driver in traffic goes on automatic pilot, reacting by sub-conscious habit. If the habits are bad, the driver is dangerous and is more likely to initiate a crash. If the habits are good, driving on automatic pilot is relaxing, safe, and allows for divided attention without increased risk (so I think -- though you must understand this type of data is impossible to get! just think what it would take...).

Bottom line:

Divided attention is not the issue but how good or bad your habits of driving are. I call it the Automatic Driving Self who is in charge. I also give advice on how to improve bad habits of driving. If you'd like a deeper discussion on this issue, you can consult one of my articles at this location

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CELL PHONES & CAR ACCIDENTS

From: M.S.
Place: Alexandria, VA
Date: November 13 1996

I'm new to the Internet and saw references to your students' papers on aggressive driving. I've been unable to actually find them. I have been counseling drtink driving offenders for several years and find that some are aggressive drivers. some aren't but that aggressive driving is certainly habitual. I am very interested in any thing you or your students have written on the subject. There's lots of smoke bet little fire in the discussions in the media re aggressive driving.

I gather your students examined their own behaviors. I do that process less formally with my DUI clients. Anything you have written would be most helpful.

Thanks.

Yes I'm interested to learn more about how DUI clients might use the self-wintessing and generational approaches. You're right. The research so far may not be of great help here. However I believe that the approach I've been using would be of direct use to you and your clients. I've been wondering about this for some time and then your letter arrived (I've had almost no inquiries from professionals like yourself -- so far). Dr. Nahl, my co-author and colleague in traffic psychology, has mentioned this several times. After you review some of the materials at the two Web Sites, you might want to assess whether you'd like to attempt using this approach -- which has two essential components (essential for what would make it effective with difficult clients):

1) Self-witnessing: