Gadgets Tied to 25% of Car Crashes

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A study conducted by the Governors Highway Safety Association found that using electronic gadgets while driving will cause you to crash your car. The good news is, you only crash twenty five percent of the time.

Driving distractions, primarily by cell phones and other electronic devices, are associated with up to 25 percent of U.S. car crashes, according to a report released on Thursday.
 
News flash: Not paying attention while driving will result in an accident.

Really though, how much study does this need?
 
I think the reason they really do the common sense studies is so the information can be called upon when new laws are being made. I assume to make a valid argument you'd have to cite sources and studies.
 
So i guess this is why we needs self driving cars. So we can use our gadgets and not have to drive to work or anywhere.
 
...but those red-light cameras allegedly reduce accidents by, let's say, 50%. So we should install cameras everywhere so we can use gadgets everywhere so there won't be any accidents!

Man I'm brilliant. On a more realistic note, they should take away driving privileges from people who don't deserve them (aka my grandmother).
 
You know what my biggest distractions are while driving?
1. Constantly checking the speedometer.
2. Constantly checking for changing speed limit signs.
3. Constantly checking for cops.
4. Hot chicks.
5. Calling/voice texting.

If you want to ban #5, you should have to ban 1-4 first.
 
Why are you constantly checking your speedometer? Are you not familiar enough with your car to know about how fast you're moving?
And I don't get constantly checking for changing speed limit signs, either. Just by normal driving and paying attention you should see them quite easily. They don't need searched for.
Constantly checking for cops shouldn't be an issue if you're not speeding/otherwise breaking the law...

So that leaves 4 and 5, which are both on you.
 
Man I'm brilliant. On a more realistic note, they should take away driving privileges from people who don't deserve them (aka my grandmother).

I agree we should have to re-take our driving test every 10 years or something. Assuming that someone can drive safely because they passed their test 50-60 years ago doesn't really make sense and isn't in the interest of public safety. Younger people would probably benefit from brushing up on safe driving practices too. It's not just old people (my grandparents are still quite capable of driving and I'm sure would pass the test) that are unsafe drivers.
 
And I don't get constantly checking for changing speed limit signs, either. Just by normal driving and paying attention you should see them quite easily. They don't need searched for.

Yeah, this reminds me of something they told us in drivers education classes. Basically new drivers will search and focus on specific points, looking for signs/etc. More experienced drivers pay more attention to the overall picture and their peripheral vision. It sounds like that other poster has just started driving or something. Picking out a big reflective white sign should not be difficult.

The speed limit thing shouldn't be a problem either, because first of all you should have a sense of the speed. Secondly you can judge your speed off of the other cars around you (it's rare that ALL the cars around you will be speeding. If there are no cars around you, then your chances of having an accident are pretty low (and with no cars around you, you could always use cruise control).

I say this as someone who had 3 speeding tickets in my first couple years of driving. It wasn't because it was so difficult to pay attention to my speed though, it was because I liked driving fast. :p
 
You know what my biggest distractions are while driving?
1. Constantly checking the speedometer.
2. Constantly checking for changing speed limit signs.
3. Constantly checking for cops.
4. Hot chicks.
5. Calling/voice texting.

If you want to ban #5, you should have to ban 1-4 first.

You don't have to take your hands off the steering wheel for 1-4. Same can't be said for the kids who tries to be a one handed hero texting while driving.
 
You know what my biggest distractions are while driving?
1. Constantly checking the speedometer.
2. Constantly checking for changing speed limit signs.
3. Constantly checking for cops.
4. Hot chicks.
5. Calling/voice texting.

If you want to ban #5, you should have to ban 1-4 first.

Lol. You want to ban speedometer's. Speed limits and police?:rolleyes:
 
Why are you constantly checking your speedometer? Are you not familiar enough with your car to know about how fast you're moving?
And I don't get constantly checking for changing speed limit signs, either. Just by normal driving and paying attention you should see them quite easily. They don't need searched for.
Constantly checking for cops shouldn't be an issue if you're not speeding/otherwise breaking the law...

So that leaves 4 and 5, which are both on you.

You don't have to take your hands off the steering wheel for 1-4. Same can't be said for the kids who tries to be a one handed hero texting while driving.

Yeah, this reminds me of something they told us in drivers education classes. Basically new drivers will search and focus on specific points, looking for signs/etc. More experienced drivers pay more attention to the overall picture and their peripheral vision. It sounds like that other poster has just started driving or something. Picking out a big reflective white sign should not be difficult.

The speed limit thing shouldn't be a problem either, because first of all you should have a sense of the speed. Secondly you can judge your speed off of the other cars around you (it's rare that ALL the cars around you will be speeding. If there are no cars around you, then your chances of having an accident are pretty low (and with no cars around you, you could always use cruise control).

I say this as someone who had 3 speeding tickets in my first couple years of driving. It wasn't because it was so difficult to pay attention to my speed though, it was because I liked driving fast. :p

Lol. You want to ban speedometer's. Speed limits and police?:rolleyes:

I also want to send everyone without a sense of humor to jail, because you make life very tedious for the rest of us.
 
I also want to send everyone without a sense of humor to jail, because you make life very tedious for the rest of us.

Your earlier points were at least worthy of some discussion as evidenced by the thoughtful replies, but THIS?

A regular ebb and flow of inebriation will render the bores variably tolerable, if not humorous, I suspect.
 
Well, when I hit that bus queue I had a beer and ciggarette in one hand, and my phone and a candy bar in the other, so yeah, 25% seems right. :p

In all seriousness I can believe this. Like walking, driving becomes one of those things we can do on 'autopilot' and it's easy to not realise just how much concentration it actualy takes. Added to the fact that 99% of the time road conditions can be predicted well in advance gives people a sense of security untill that 1% unexpected situation happens.

As for the time it takes to keep an eye on speed signs. I agree under normal conditions that becomes second nature with experience, but have you ever driven on a managed motorway (Like the M42 around Birmingham)? Damn thats annoying. 40, 50, 40, 50, 60, 40, etc. every. god. damn. mile.
 
We read these quotes for these 'studies' all the time, with there percentage of accidents caused by figures. Has anyone taken the time to add em all up? I bet it equals way more than 100%.

Just pay attention when you drive and for God's sake if you can't keep up with traffic because its going too fast for you STAY HOME grandma...Michigan is famous for left lane slow drivers. Maybe I can get a grant to study how many accidents they cause while going 45 in the left lane on the highway.......
 
Why are you constantly checking your speedometer? Are you not familiar enough with your car to know about how fast you're moving?
And I don't get constantly checking for changing speed limit signs, either. Just by normal driving and paying attention you should see them quite easily. They don't need searched for.
Constantly checking for cops shouldn't be an issue if you're not speeding/otherwise breaking the law...

So that leaves 4 and 5, which are both on you.

Are you kidding?

Troll can gtfo this thread.
 
I thought I read that red light cameras actually increase accidents in intersections, and raise township $$ :p
 
News flash: Not paying attention while driving will result in an accident.

Really though, how much study does this need?

For those in 25% of the accidents, it apparently does need studying.
 
People are stupid. If your need to futz with a gadget in your car outweighs the need to actually drive the car and pay attention to the road you probably SHOULD be removed from the gene pool, hopefully without taking an innocent bystander with you.
 
I remember from a defensive driving course that teen drivers are 4 times as likely to get in an accident per mile driven. Old people are 17 times as likely to get in an accident per mile driven.
 
I remember from a defensive driving course that teen drivers are 4 times as likely to get in an accident per mile driven. Old people are 17 times as likely to get in an accident per mile driven.

So....if you see an old person driving while on an iphone...get the hell out of the way.


sorry for quoting myself...no edit.
 
So....if you see an old person driving while on an iphone...get the hell out of the way.

Heh...about a year back I was headed into work still half asleep. I make a right turn, and barrelling straight at me on the wrong side of the road in some humongous '80s Caddy is this elderly woman that can barely see me over the steering wheel. The street is 3 lanes wide and the different directions are seperated by a large raised median with trees and such. She then proceeds to make a left hand turn through a very large intersection, into the correct lane this time at least. Needless to say I didn't need my coffee that morning.

Even with all this hoopla over distracted driving with texters and all that, haven't traffic fatalities dropped significantly the past few years, even with many more drivers on the roads?
 
traffic-fatalities-decline-graph.jpg


I would say there is a pretty significant drop that corresponds to the explosion of the smart phone into everybody's lives.
 
traffic-fatalities-decline-graph.jpg


I would say there is a pretty significant drop that corresponds to the explosion of the smart phone into everybody's lives.

Damn..no edit.

Based on this graph and and another graph that shows technology usage in cars, it can be found that technology use decreases car fatalities.

You can't determine the cause in an observational study, only correlation.
 
Of course that decrease could be caused by cracking down on drunk drivers, and safer cars.
 
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