Quote:
And that's why you make a playlist before you start driving...
Pilots do it "on the fly". Couldn't resist
And that's why you make a playlist before you start driving...
If you think that you only need a four of your five physical senses to drive then I applaud you...
Many times in heavy traffic there will be a vehicle not paying attention and apparently oblivious to the siren behind them...
I see plenty of people doing that without anything in their ears! I think the problem is that some people are just completely oblivious no matter what. It doesn't take much to get a driver's license.
Science: Much of the research on distracted driving focuses on texting and cell phone use. However, the use of an mp3 player is included as a cause of distracted driving in research by the National Highway Transportation Safety Association.
Research on distracted driving reveals some surprising facts:
from http://www.distraction.gov/stats-and-facts/
- 20 percent of injury crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving. (NHTSA).
- Of those killed in distracted-driving-related crashed, 995 involved reports of a cell phone as a distraction (18% of fatalities in distraction-related crashes). (NHTSA)
- In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in U.S. roadways and an estimated additional 448,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes that were reported to have involved distracted driving. (FARS and GES)
- The age group with the greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the under-20 age group – 16 percent of all drivers younger than 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted while driving. (NHTSA)
- Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. (Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
- Using a cell phone use while driving, whether it’s hand-held or hands-free, delays a driver's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. (Source: University of Utah)
and on the same page:
http://www.distraction.gov/stats-and-facts/#electronic
Regardless of the legality in your location, as a law enforcement officer I urge everyone NOT to wear headphones while driving. Many times in heavy traffic there will be a vehicle not paying attention and apparently oblivious to the siren behind them...why? Because they are wearing their stock iPod earbuds. I will say I would be less infuriated when I finally got around them if I looked over and they were wearing a set of Grado or Fostex cans I've seen it many times and I have never been patrol or traffic being a "fed" but state and county police probably see it daily.
It's not just sirens, it's everything else. You can get lost in musical reverie... and hit people.
It's not just sirens, it's everything else. You can get lost in musical reverie... and hit people. Walking people, people in other cars - anything. When you plug your music in, you shut part of your awareness out, and I'm not talking just about aural awareness - I'm talking about intuition, surroundings' sense, etc.. It seems that a lot of the people who drive with earphones in come from countries that have little to no traffic taming. They have school, maybe, but getting a license is as easy as running around a block and turning into a u-turn.
Those systems breed feckless drivers. Whatever, that is normal. I see it in Canada, I've seen it in the States, and I've seen in Australia, too. I'm sure it happens in other places. The point is that people think the car is their plaything and never that it is really a massive weapon that they should be in control of, starting first in their heads.
I've railed on this before, partially because I am a modern social contractor, and partially because I've had friends who've been very badly hurt because drivers were listening to earphones. Whether it's the cables rubbing the neck, the ear being blocked, the tunes being loud, or fun, it doesn't matter: earphones and driving do NOT mix. It is sad that the attitude of drivers is that it isn't a dangerous factor, that driving can be taken lightly, but that is the culture that people grow up with.
I won't get mad anymore, as that doesn't help, but it gets tiring to see this over and over again, especially here.