It never fails:
Frequently when I'm on my daily commute; or just driving around town on the weekend I'll come to a stop light with a group of cars. Maybe it's the car in front of me...maybe it's the car to the side...but one thing is almost certain. When that light turns green, at least one of those cars is just going to sit there doing absolutely nothing for 5+ seconds when it's time to go again.
On a lucky day, you might be able to zig-zag around them. If fortune is really on your side, you might take the opportunity to slip by undetected and rid yourself of the clueless driver who is still parked in place texting, reading, or doing who knows what else. That is until you look in the rear view mirror: and suddenly, the driver who was plainly in no hurry to do anything with their time now wants to do 5, 10, or even 15 over the speed limit in some apparent attempt to redeem themselves. What the heck happened?
In this case, the distracted driver is more of minor nuisance or diversion. In order to keep this rant to a reasonable length, I'll just say I'm going for mobile/text drivers here. I'm convinced drivers do this in my town so often that I made a game of placing bets anytime I reach an intersection. But make no mistake, distracted driving is seriously deadly. And it isn't like this is the early 2000's when cellphones were a new phenomenon. It's dangerous and we all know it! The PSAs are everywhere. Whitehouse.gov and Centers for Disease Control have entire webpages dedicated to just this one topic.
What annoys me most is the prevalence. Human beings seem to have this uncanny knack for convincing themselves that accidents only happen to other people, and that the PSAs don't apply to them. This is a myth made infinitly more horrifying by the sheer number of drivers susceptible to it. And this isn't just a personal observation, but also the subject of driver psychology studies funded by the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety, just to name one. The phenomena is so common, it has gained the moniker "Lake Woebegone effect," although this term can now be applied to a lot of other scenarios.
Anyway, what I think it all boils down to is over-stimulation of the driver. Or more directly: drivers obsessed with over-stimulating themselves at bad times. A recent EETimes article pointed to some very helpful apps and mobile technologies aimed at reducing cellphone distraction. I think that's certainly a step in the right direction, but we also need to address the low likelihood of drivers voluntarily policing themselves with these apps. With each model year, the driver is equipped with an ever-increasing array of marginally useful gadgets and gizmos to lure the eyes and hands from where they should be. I suspect the problem is destined to mount until most (if not all) autos become self-driving. But that may be a rant for another day.
Frequently when I'm on my daily commute; or just driving around town on the weekend I'll come to a stop light with a group of cars. Maybe it's the car in front of me...maybe it's the car to the side...but one thing is almost certain. When that light turns green, at least one of those cars is just going to sit there doing absolutely nothing for 5+ seconds when it's time to go again.
On a lucky day, you might be able to zig-zag around them. If fortune is really on your side, you might take the opportunity to slip by undetected and rid yourself of the clueless driver who is still parked in place texting, reading, or doing who knows what else. That is until you look in the rear view mirror: and suddenly, the driver who was plainly in no hurry to do anything with their time now wants to do 5, 10, or even 15 over the speed limit in some apparent attempt to redeem themselves. What the heck happened?
In this case, the distracted driver is more of minor nuisance or diversion. In order to keep this rant to a reasonable length, I'll just say I'm going for mobile/text drivers here. I'm convinced drivers do this in my town so often that I made a game of placing bets anytime I reach an intersection. But make no mistake, distracted driving is seriously deadly. And it isn't like this is the early 2000's when cellphones were a new phenomenon. It's dangerous and we all know it! The PSAs are everywhere. Whitehouse.gov and Centers for Disease Control have entire webpages dedicated to just this one topic.
What annoys me most is the prevalence. Human beings seem to have this uncanny knack for convincing themselves that accidents only happen to other people, and that the PSAs don't apply to them. This is a myth made infinitly more horrifying by the sheer number of drivers susceptible to it. And this isn't just a personal observation, but also the subject of driver psychology studies funded by the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety, just to name one. The phenomena is so common, it has gained the moniker "Lake Woebegone effect," although this term can now be applied to a lot of other scenarios.
Anyway, what I think it all boils down to is over-stimulation of the driver. Or more directly: drivers obsessed with over-stimulating themselves at bad times. A recent EETimes article pointed to some very helpful apps and mobile technologies aimed at reducing cellphone distraction. I think that's certainly a step in the right direction, but we also need to address the low likelihood of drivers voluntarily policing themselves with these apps. With each model year, the driver is equipped with an ever-increasing array of marginally useful gadgets and gizmos to lure the eyes and hands from where they should be. I suspect the problem is destined to mount until most (if not all) autos become self-driving. But that may be a rant for another day.
