The cellphone paradox - where are all the accidents?

Looks like traveling at 45 mph is a real danger.

Some more information I saw today

The National Safety Council reported this week that traffic deaths and serious injuries in the U.S. are on a pace to rise for the first time in nearly a decade. If the trend for the first six months of this year continues, the NSC says traffic fatalities in the nation will exceed

40,000 for the first time since 2007 and deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled also will increase.

This despite evermore crashworthy cars and high-tech electronic safety features.

The ?speed kills? coalition will blame the trend reversal on many states? recent moves to higher highway speed limits, but the real culprits, suggests NSC president Deborah Hershman to the Associated Press, are low fuel prices and ? get ready for it ? cellphone mania.

To be sure, Hershman says, Americans are on the road more than ever; miles driven in the U.S. increased for 15 consecutive months through May and set an all-time record for travel in the first five months of the year at 1.26 trillion miles, a record that stood since 2007. But, the

3.4% increase in miles traveled doesn?t square with the 14% jump in fatalities for the first half of this year.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has a prominent page on its website that says ?states continue to raise speed limits despite clear evidence that doing so leads to more deaths? ? an assertion that considerable data and many experts have suggested is specious. Instead, cellphone use likely has a more direct link to the new rise in traffic fatalities and injuries. An NSC study earlier this year indicated cellphone use is a factor in one quarter of all accidents.

I haven't read *all* of these posts, so hopefully I'm not repeating someone, but your linked report says this:

"Covers only accidents occurring on the road. Data are estimated. Year-to-year comparisons should be made with caution."

Records are public. Why do they have to estimate? Why didn't they just collect accident reports? They don't say. As at least one person noted, drunk driving is almost certainly down since 1990. Cars are better made, especially brakes. An increasing number of states ban handheld devices.

I've had two accidents in about the last 12 years. One was a man talking on a cellphone who veered into my lane. The other was a young man who plowed into my pickup, which was parked on a quiet, straight street. He was amazed he had hit me. Cellphone? Probably, but I'm not certain. He was in the car alone in late afternoon, so it wasn't "partying".

I've had many close calls. I can often tell when someone in front of me is on the phone because their driving doesn't correspond to conditions. Their speed and braking is erratic. Cellphones have also created a problem of very few people signaling. They simply don't have a hand free to do it!

So how do we figure in the increased defensive driving on the part of people who are paying attention? To a great extent, non-phoners are doing the work for phoners. I find driving to be more strenuous than it used to be. I have to constantly be vigilant for lane wanderers, non-signalers and general out-to-lunchers. Those people are all depending on others to be paying attention.

It would be interesting to also see figures for pedestrians. How many injuries walking into trees and cars while phoning? Last week I was heading down into the subway as a young woman strolled down the middle of the stairs, gabbing away, not holding the railing. I said excuse me, then "on your left". I was afraid she might step to the left as I passed and send one or both of us down the stairs. She was simply *not where she was*. Finally I raised my voice and said "wake up!". That worked. :) I listened to her indignant protests fade into the distance as I headed for the train. At least no one fell down the stairs. (Excuse me?! How dare you! blah, blah, blah...) And who knows, maybe she'll pay attention a bit more in the future. But the incident highlights another disturbing trend: People are increasingly uncomfortable simply being where they are. Many people simply don't expect to have to relate to the world around them. They're offended by it! It's not only a danger and a mild form of mental illness; it's also a growing social problem. I find people increasingly just walk into me on sidewalks. I asked a blind friend about his experience. Yes, more and more people are walking into him, as he walks city streets with a guide dog!

While we're at it, I'm curious how many accidents are caused by ridiculous flashing light overkill on emergency vehicles. Police and firefighters just can't seem to resist the childish thrill of adding yet another light. Police cars used to have a blue "bubble gum machine" on top. It worked fine. Now they have dozens of flashing lights in every color. The problem: It's impossible to tell where an emergency vehicle is going. Even if they use turn signals, there's no time to figure out which lights on this high-speed, psychedelic Christmas tree are signalling.

duh.... the mental perspective leading to moving cell acess in 'dialing' o r texting may be visualized as a funnel of perception thought and activity. ..the act conclusion need not be a cell accident but cause related inconven iences not only at that time but at all times.

Like AK 47's in every broom closet, cell phones in motion broaden the proba bilities of 'inconveniences' ...

Interesting points. My driving experience is that things are no different on the road now then they ever were in the past as far as the general competency and driving behavior of other drivers. Sure, sometimes you run into idiots but that's always been true. I see regional variations in how people drive... here in the west almost no one gets over to the left when people are coming down an on-ramp and will need to merge into traffic, it's every man for him/her self. Yet back east it's very common for the thru traffic to move left whenever there is someone coming up the on ramp.

I really think the regression to the mean applies and every time we try to make the Driver safer they just become more dangerous in some other fashion with the net result being the overall safety of THE DRIVER remains more or less the same year in and year out. Yet accident rates are lower..... I give credit for that more to highway and street design than to the driver. We have wider shoulders, wider lanes, more divided highways, safer guardrails, better signing, better sight distances, better geometric design, higher friction pavement surfaces, all things that make the roads safer but that the drivers don't even notice.

As far as emergency lighting, in the last 10 years it's actually taken a step backwards in my opinion. You are right that they have gone nutz with the lighting. The reason is LEDs. Before LEDs there was a practical limit on how many lights you could put on a car because more then a single light bar across the top would draw so much power (in addition to all the radios) that the battery would go dead while the cop was stopped. When LEDs dropped in price to where cost wasn't too big a concern (and cost is almost never a concern with PDs) they started loading up the police and emergency vehicles with every LED light they could find a place to bolt on. But something else happened too. Before LEDS, when it was usually a single light bar with half a dozen lights in it, all the lights in the bar were interconnected to a central controller which would flash them in a fixed and designated pattern. Researchers had even studied patterns and such looking for the best ones. Perhaps all the lights on the right half, then all the lights on the left half, then all the "even" lights, the all the "odd" lights, repeat or they might sequence from right to left to encourage you to stay left. So you saw an identifiable, and possibly even meaningful pattern as you approached the emergency vehicle.

With the LEDs they have mostly gone to each little module being it's own little world. Then they stick a dozen of them on teh vehicle, a couple at teh bottom of the rear window, a couple at the top, a few on the bumper, some on the rear view mirrors, plus they make the tail and reverse lights flash plus they have the top light bar going. None of those little modules are synchronized with any of the others so aside from the lights in the top light bar it's just a bunch of randomly flashing lights and so many of them that you can't focus on anything. Then they add the TAKE DOWN lights which are front and rear facing BRIGHT WHITE steady burning lights equivalent to headlight high beams. The purpose of the take down lights is to BLIND YOU. The idea is that you, the car either in front or behind the cop car, will have those take down lights shining right into your eyes so that you cannot clearly see the officer who stopped you, whereas he can see you. That way you won't pull your gun and shoot him because you can't see to aim at him. Lots of those cops turn them when they aren't needed which naturally blinds oncoming and upcoming traffic depending on the angle at which he parked his car.

It's been less than a week and we're almost up to 500 messages. Should I start a "left foot braking thread"???

Per Mayayana:

The ones that bother me the most around here are the white strobes on top of the school buses and the white strobes in some traffic lights.

Geeze Louise!!! I *see* it.... it's yellow and as big as a house... but I need to see other things too and those damn strobe lights create some sort of involuntary attention response in me so other stuff tends to get missed as my attention keeps returning to the strobe.

--
Pete Cresswell

Per Ashton Crusher:

I probably ride a bike more than 99% of the general population - and have been for sixty+ years.

I see obvious changes in driving behavior over the years.

The most obvious: people drive faster, signal less, run more red lights, and more people are obviously doing other things besides driving - mostly things that were not technologically available years past.

The red light thing has developed in the past few years since our area went over to ludicrously-long red lights plus red-in-all-directions for a seemingly very long time plus un-timed lights.

Most people running red lights used to be trying to slip through a stale yellow light. Now I seem them coming in at speed and not even slowing down.

--
Pete Cresswell

Per Ashton Crusher:

Start a "What is the proper way to come off an on-ramp and merge with traffic?" thread. Volume will be right up there with the infamous "Helmet" threads in cycling fora - and you will see strongly-held yet diametrically-opposed opinions on how to do it. Tribute, IMHO, to lack of requirements for driver's training.

--
Pete Cresswell

I can't say you are wrong, we may be seeing the same thing differently. But I will say that every generation complains about "kids today... yada yada yada" and believes the youth are going to hell in a hand basket. And they have been saying that since Socrates day.

authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place

I view how most people talk about "other drivers" the same way. No matter who you talk to it's always the same, drivers are getting worse, politicians are getting worse, everything is getting worse. It seems that such a "it's getting worse" view is hard wired into most people as they age.

Glad I'm not the only one. The stupid things aren't on long enough for our eyes to focus on them, and the next one is in a different place. And what about that stupid chartreuse color that some cities are painting their fire engines? So it's NOT a natural color, that doesn't make it stand out any better. FIRE ENGINES ARE RED. PERIOD.

And have any Los Angeles residents noticed how few lights there are on the overhead freeway signs no? I suspect that it just costs too much to replace them. I can read the signs at a reasonable distance if I have my lights on high, but that seems really rude -- in spite of the fact that perhaps 1/4 of the drivers don't understand that their high beams are to be used only OCCASIONALLY.

And what about those banks of bright lights they use when working on the freeways at night? They ALWAYS point them directly into oncoming traffic. It's like they WANT to cause crashes.

And another thing...

--
Cheers, Bev 
------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Hmph.  I used to have snow tires.  Never again.  They melted in the 
spring.  I won't even start going on about my wood stove. 
                                                         -- websurf1

I'd expect this one to hit Bad Golferman's list. Sure! I learned on a clutch car, so I'm totally comfortable with left foot braking.

Lets hope the spammer gets spammed at his Gmail adress. He tried to separate the email in his posts.

-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: INSTRUCTOR'S SOLUTIONS MANUAL PDF: Linear Algebra Done Right,

2nd Ed by Sheldon Axler Date: Sat, 22 Aug 2015 22:11:32 -0700 (PDT) From: snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com Newsgroups: alt.home.repair

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-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: INSTRUCTOR'S SOLUTIONS MANUAL PDF: Linear Algebra Done Right,

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--
. 
Christopher A. Young 
learn more about Jesus 
.    www.lds.org 
. 
.

Does braking with the left foot increase the risk of accidents?

--
. 
Christopher A. Young 
learn more about Jesus 
.    www.lds.org 
. 
.

Does changing the radio station increase your risk of collisions?

-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: INSTRUCTOR'S SOLUTIONS MANUAL PDF: Linear Algebra Done Right,

2nd Ed by Sheldon Axler Date: Sat, 22 Aug 2015 22:11:32 -0700 (PDT) From: snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com Newsgroups: alt.home.repair

-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: INSTRUCTOR'S SOLUTIONS MANUAL PDF: Linear Algebra Done Right,

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-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: INSTRUCTOR'S SOLUTIONS MANUAL PDF: Linear Algebra Done Right,

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--
. 
Christopher A. Young 
learn more about Jesus 
.    www.lds.org 
. 
.

Well, some how we survived other Presidents like Stagflation Carter. At least he didn't give nukes to Iran, like Oh Bomb Us.

-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: INSTRUCTOR'S SOLUTIONS MANUAL PDF: Linear Algebra Done Right,

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-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: INSTRUCTOR'S SOLUTIONS MANUAL PDF: Linear Algebra Done Right,

2nd Ed by Sheldon Axler Date: Sat, 22 Aug 2015 22:11:32 -0700 (PDT) From: snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com Newsgroups: alt.home.repair

-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: INSTRUCTOR'S SOLUTIONS MANUAL PDF: Linear Algebra Done Right,

2nd Ed by Sheldon Axler Date: Sat, 22 Aug 2015 22:11:32 -0700 (PDT) From: snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com Newsgroups: alt.home.repair

--
. 
Christopher A. Young 
learn more about Jesus 
.    www.lds.org 
. 
.

| Interesting points. My driving experience is that things are no | different on the road now then they ever were in the past as far as | the general competency and driving behavior of other drivers.

I wonder if my mostly urban/suburban driving might be a factor. I see *a lot* of people on the phone, and it's not kids. Occasionally I might see a teenager texting at 60 mph, but mostly I see adults, of all kinds, yapping away.

The man who sideswiped me veering into my lane was probably 35-40 y.o. He was talking to his friend, who in turn was dropping off her car at a repair shop. He was engrossed in trying to follow her instructions on which street to turn at when he hit me. A few years earlier he would have figured out the directions before he'd left the house. But this was about 2004 and he was a "yuppie" on the go, with a phone glued to his ear.

When he pulled over after the accident he wouldn't even talk to me. He called the police, then his insurance company. I never saw him off the phone until the police arrived. He was so much out to lunch that he'd called the police, convinced that I'd hit him! In my experience that's typical. As a taxpaying consumer he doesn't feel he has to relate to the world around him, thus that world has no business "relating" to him. :)

A very big change is that people don't signal anymore. Maybe 30-50% of the time. It's crazy. They're just not paying attention. In MA it's illegal not to signal, and it's irritating to be behind someone and get no notice of why they suddenly stepped on the brakes. That used to be unheard of. Now it's almost the norm. Again, it has nothing to do with young drivers. But it does have a lot to do with phoners only having one freee hand.

A couple of weeks ago I was pulling out of a supermarket and was going straight across the street, up a sidestreet. Traffic was stopping in both directions in front of me. The near side traffic had left a gap. A man driving on the far side, heading toward my left, slowed down and seemed to be leaving a gap. I started to pull out. He then turned into the supermarket and almost hit me. I beeped. We both put down our windows. He looked at me with a condescending smile and said, "I'm turning in here", as though I must be an idiot. I said, "how about a signal?!" His face dropped. It had never occurred to him to signal. To his credit, though, he apologized.

I see the phones and the anti-social behavior as related. For instance, where I live it's always been customary, on a narrow road with a parked car, to wait for an oncoming car if the parked car is on your side. The oncoming driver then waves a thankyou. Now it's usually a game of chicken. That's a very clear difference in driver behavior. It's not related to phones, but phones seem to be related to the general social disconnection. People are no longer experiencing themselves as being where they are.

The same is true of people walking across streets, on cellphones or not. People used to *always* look before crossing. Now it's common to see people cross without breaking step, trusting that the universe is looking out for them. Maybe many of them are the children of "helicopter moms". At first I thought it was a kind of passive-aggressive entitlement, but the more it's happened, the more I'm thinking that these people are actually entitled to the core. They're not trying to show me who's boss. They don't even know I'm there. It hasn't occurred to them that they could actually suffer the indignity of being run over by a car! Maybe that's because they've spent their lives getting trophies for showing up? I'm not sure. It's actually a very intriguing pattern to me.

(A friend who tutors gradeschool children recently told me that helicopter moms have been replaced by "snowplow moms". The kids are pushed through endless achievements, with no breaks to just sit, reflect, get bored, discover a bug, or even think about what they might *want* to do.)

Do you really not see any changes? When I was growing up, kids behaved and anyone nearby was a parent. Today, when I see kids running and shrieking in a store I don't dare say anything. The parents are likely to be outraged. And often as not, they're standing there proudly as their kids act out. In a nutshell, being considerate has become a sucker's pastime, while "self-empowerment" is considered an important goal.

I think my own generation, the baby boomers, actually started with being entitled. Not all of us, but many. In the 50s life was about kids. Baby boomers then grew up feeling they needed to be special. They had kids. Their kids were very special accomplishments, so many of those kids are now hyper-spoiled and entitled. That's a unique situation. (It's not so long ago that child labor was considered OK and that people had kids to save money. The kids could work the farm. They weren't cherished possessions. They were low paid workers.)

It's certainly true that young people are more selfish and old people are less tolerant. That's timeless. But I'm surprised that anyone, say, over 50 doesn't see some dramatic changes in American culture during the past decades, which have nothing to do with young vs old. But those changes may be less pronounced in small towns and rural areas.

Per Stormin Mormon:

From what little I have read, there is disagreement on the answer.

The traditional answer is that left-foot braking is, somehow, less safe.

I can't remember the term-of-art for it, but there is a recognized cause of accidents that consists of the driver stepping on the accelerator when they were trying to step on the brake.

A few months ago there was an article in the New Yorker about vehicle defect investigation and vehicle recalls from an engineering perspective in which it was mentioned that some people think that left-foot braking may actually be safer because it reduces the chances of a "wrong pedal" error to nearly zero.

--
Pete Cresswell

Per Mayayana:

Does anybody remember being taught "The curb step" as a child?

--
Pete Cresswell

I cannot say, but I can make some strong arguments against braking with your nose.

--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Same here in the U.S. Same result.

But this will be a temporary blip until drivers are retrained to obey traff ic lights, not abuse them.

When traffic lights first came into use, there was no delay between red and green for the opposite road, that's what the yellow was for. Back then, d rivers knew that when the yellow appeared, the red would follow and they wo uld either stop or complete the drive through the intersection based on the ir speed and where they were when the yellow appeared.

Over the years, a delay was added for "safety" reasons. Of course, drivers took advantage of that and started slipping under the red knowing the othe r side wouldn't get the green for another second or two. In response, even more delay time was added and if you could believe it, drivers took advant age of the extra time delay!

The fact is, there is NO delay required. The yellow is sufficient, but dri vers have now become used to running red lights knowing the delay exists.

I'm all for the traffic cams. There will be some problems initially, but d rivers will again learn to use the yellow to judge when to stop, not the bu ilt in delay after the red.