Re: Another Police Matter?: Mobile phones and driving


<turtill@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:rkal229s2oq8bfnuav1anfg9aekqgkm8t3@xxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 13:54:50 GMT, "Peter V Rawlings"
<peter_v.rawlingsSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Sounds like a 'fair cop', pete. The multi-tasking nature of driving is
very
much at 'The sharp end' - as I recall! Most drivers could admit to
themselves that some decisions made were not the best ones - even with no
'mobile' distractions. Without doubt, age will bear influence on how one
prioritises the interrupts to the main task.

The real danger is when folk cannot or will not accepte that judgement,
reaction times and recovery times from an input overload - are hampered by
age or other internal issues. Mobile phones can variably cause input
overload and that must inhibit the reflexes that otherwise
(...sometimes!...) get you out of trouble. :-/

In my last car the phone would startle me when it went off. I then had
to press a button on the steering wheel which would mute the radio and
allow me to answer the phone. Besides that button and many others on
the steering wheel there is also an accelerator button which can make
being startled by a phone call at a time one is slowing down for a
slower car rather dangerous IMO. My latest car doesn't have this
arrangement and my wife can answer the phone should it go noisy.
pete

That's a very relevant point, I guess: With conventional controls, the
functions make use of four operable limbs. When hand controls need to be
rxtended, then there is a greater risk of mis-registration, I suppose. I
feel sure it's nothing to do with <consciously> pressing the wrong device to
achieve a needed result - but it's more likely that 'tripping' over the
increased number of control devices is going to happen sometimes. :-/

As you say, the accelerator is not a good one to get wrong!

Looks like a situation where, "phone-a-friend" is not a viable 'lifeline'!
:-(

Cheers,

Pete.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Duoliner 2.2 diesel Auto
    ... Despite the best efforts from the fitter, I still find the accelerator ... My diesel pedal was very hard to depress when I purchased my car ... just adding a better mechanical advantage to the hand controls. ...
    (alt.auto.mercedes)
  • Re: "No Safety Problem" -- Toyota accused of not being frank
    ... crashes involving stuck accelerator pedals in early 2007, ... Driver incompetence has been linked to those deaths, ... EVER stalled a car as much as this one! ...
    (rec.autos.tech)
  • Re: toyota e mail
    ... Fact remains Toyota came clean and GM & Ford did not until it became ... complaints that the accelerator pedal was "touchy" or hard to control. ... THE VEHICLE RESPONSE TO THE ACCELERATOR IS UNPREDICTABLE AND ALWAYS ... SOMETIMES THE CAR WILL INTERPRET A SMALL QUICK DEPRESSION OF THE ...
    (alt.autos.toyota)
  • Re: Causing Death by Accident
    ... > car, panicked, froze and held the accelerator down. ... > and then continued on to hit my car. ... > foot off the accelerator and switched the engine off. ... > the bus driver and to criminalise it is pointless IMO. ...
    (uk.legal)
  • Re: Dangerous technology
    ... be really careful not to get to close to the car in front when you ... A highway patrolman in his family car called 911 and there is a audio record of his attempts to get the car to slow down before it crashed and burst into flames. ... In the end, it turned out to be bad pedal placement that left people thinking they were pushing on the brake when they were, in fact, pushing on the accelerator. ...
    (rec.autos.sport.f1)