Rethinking Distracted Driving

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Edmunds recent Auto Safety Conference featured a number of high-profile speakers including NHTSA Administrator David Strickland, Edmunds CEO Jeremy Anwyl, IIHS President Adrian Lund, Toyota Under Fire author Tim Ogden, Rep John Dingell and more. I haven’t had time to watch all of the presentations from the conference, but from what I’ve seen, the conference seems to have been one of the most forward-thinking, diverse and lively explorations of auto safety in recent memory. The video above, featuring Virginia Tech professor Tom Dingus, offers enough provocative insights to fuel a lengthy discussion on distracted driving, but I encourage you to go check out the rest of the speakers here, and if you really want to get stuck in, you can download their presentations here.


Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • CJinSD CJinSD on Jun 24, 2011

    Observer Effect anyone? Cameras in cars don't change behavior?

    • SPPPP SPPPP on Jun 24, 2011

      That came up in the Q&A session following the presentation. He indicated that ... well, I will leave it up to your decision to watch the video or not. :P

  • Tallnikita Tallnikita on Jun 24, 2011

    It's truly sad that now some people are going to spend time in the conferences, obtain government grants for studies, earn honorariums, etc etc ad nauseum, all to prove the obvious - anything but the car controls and a radio IS a distraction. See, simple! But can't make a scientific career out of it.

    • See 5 previous
    • Pch101 Pch101 on Jun 24, 2011
      @steeringwithmyknees For instance, more evidence that hands-free cell phone use is no better than holding a phone to your ear is useful in light of legislation in many places that allow Bluetooth, but disallow handheld phone conversations (nice work by the telecommunications lobby). One point that he makes in the video is that phone conversations don't contribute to many accidents. The claim that using a phone is equivalent to a DUI is complete hype. Other data suggests that drivers have fewer accidents while using phones. That isn't to say that phone usage is "safe" per se, but the issue has been grossly distorted and misrepresented, resulting in laws that don't work.
  • DenverMike DenverMike on Jun 24, 2011

    I pay less attention to the road when I'm OFF the phone and it's the ON the phone driving when I'm more aware of traffic and the task of driving. I know I'm a hundred times more likely to crash OFF the phone that ON. Maybe that's just me or it's human nature but I've only crashed once since there's been cell phones and I wasn't ON one. Middle of the day and I was reaching for a map and then add all the near misses I've had including running redlights that had long been red all while OFF the phone. Part of the problem is we tend to get bored while driving and start to observe sports cars, pickup trucks, billboards, houses, babes on the street, babes in other cars and what we would do to them. You know, like lower them, lift them or plant trees out front.

  • Dynamic88 Dynamic88 on Jun 24, 2011

    He said something along these lines - 10% of the drivers cause 50% of the crashes or near crashes. I found that very interesting. It seems like a fruitful place for more study. Do these people behave differently than most? Do they have different spacial perception? Different cognitive ability? Can we train them to be better, or are they hopeless?

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