Mr Macaw wrote:
On Thu, 21 Jan 2016 22:36:29 -0000, Jolly Roger wrote:


Nope. I'm not sure if you are being intentionally obtuse, or you are just
missing the point. Of course it is the responsibility of the driver to pay
attention to conditions around them; but it is an accepted fact that humans
do not multitask well, and the driving environment forces us to multitask
as a necessity. Two sets of eyes and ears are better than one. If the
driver happens to be looking in one direction (to check cross traffic, for
instance), a passenger who is holding a conversation with the driver can
see something critical happening in the other direction, and their audible
and/or visible (perhaps even tactile) reaction can inform the driver. That
simply cannot happen if the person on the other end of the conversation is
miles away blabbering nag away on the other end of the phone.

You seem to be making two points, and are correct about one of them.

I'm right about everything I just said.

Yes, two people in a car increases the chances of spotting a problem.
But that's nothing to do with phones or conversations.

Yes it does, for the reasons explained above.

People DO multitask and they're very good at it. If you're not, maybe
you should consider not driving, which already involves doing about 5 things at once.

I didn't say people *can't* multitask - I said they *suck* at it, which has
been scientifically proven. The fact is people are not very good at
multitasking, and studies also show the ones who think they are the best at
it are actually among the worst. The fact remains a passenger who is
holding a conversation with a driver can respond to cues while a person
miles away over the phone simply cannot.

--
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JR