OT: Multi-tasking, attention and talking on your cell while driving Options

[raynekat]

Big time off topic, but really interesting.

Was watching a show last night call "Brain Games."

The topic was how your mind works while paying attention to things....as in how we concentrate.

1) The 1st big misnomer was "multi-tasking." No such thing. Your brain just completely 100% switches from one task to another. Now maybe some are better at switching back and forth than others, but they are still breaking their attention from one task to get on with the other.

2) 95% of magic tricks work on this premise. Since your mind can only concentrate and pay attention to one thing at a time, magicians use this to distract you from what they are trying to accomplish. Pick pockets do the same. Maybe no real news here, but to see it in real time and slow motion was interesting.

3) So this leads to driving while on the cell phone. They put a guy on a small road coarse had him talking to someone on the phone, and would randomly throw stuff in front of the car. Nearly all the time he was out of control as he wasn't paying attention to his driving.

Their conclusion was that driving while talking on the cell was "equally" as dangerous as driving while under the influence. The day might be coming where you'll lose your license for a year if your caught on your cell. I for one think that would be a good thing.

Food for thought at any rate.

You are just kidding yourself if you think you can multi-task. Driving while yacking on your cell is the ultimate example of this.

[Chris914n6]

All these "tests" are rigged to prove a point. There is nothing scientific about them, no control group, no tests with and without the phone.
It's also not real world, in 25 years of driving nobody has thrown a box in front of me. I can count the number of near misses on one hand.
Then the "phone" part is a series of questions your friends would never ask, not a conversation, with a time limit that is irrelevant. Failure for Mythbusters.

If driving really required 100% then stereos would be illegal and singing in the car would get you a ticket. Infotainment systems wouldn't be a popular option or addon.

Texting I have to wait til I'm stopped.... I need my other hand to shift (IMG:style_emoticons/default/poke.gif)

On the other hand, I did get rear ended in a drive thru once, by a couple arguing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/stirthepot.gif)

We need better drivers, not restrictions.