Paul M. Cook wrote:

On Wed, 20 Jan 2016 19:59:18 +1300, Jamie Kahn Genet wrote:

I have to wonder at people who think not looking at the road and
thinking about something else as well, isn't dangerous.

Driving isn't an inherently safe thing to do, so, sure, of course
there are myriad distractions inherent in the mere act of driving.

The fact that almost anyone can drive means that driving is,
essentially, in the scope of the easiest tasks humans can do.

So, it's *easy* to drive and *not safe* to be distracted.

Since most of us never have a single accident in our entire lives,
and yet, most of us have been distracted a billion times while
driving, what that means is that we constantly safely handle
distractions.

That *some* people can't handle distractions is probably partially
why the accident rate remains at the low level that it is today.

However, the fact that this accident rate was wholly unaffected
by the absolutely astoundingly huge increase in cellphone ownership
numbers (hence, most people assume, in cellphone use distractions),
simply means exactly what it shows.

That is, cellphone use is not any more distracting than any other
distraction that most drivers handle safely every single day.


It is simplicity itself to demonstrate that TXTing while driving impairs
reaction times, as many have shown, for many years now e.g.
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/texting-while-driving-how-dangerous-is-it

But continue to deny that you are affected by distractions, and that
magically you are a better driver and better able to multitask than
others.
Of course an accident resulting from distractions such as TXTing would
never happen to _you_! That is only something that happens to '_other_
people'. _You're_ special :-)

I guess some people never quite manage to mature past the teenage
feeling of invulnerability, to instead deal with reality and take
responsibility...

--
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.