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posted by martyb on Tuesday April 25 2017, @11:47AM   Printer-friendly
from the just-project-camera-views-onto-the-phone dept.

Zendrive makes technology that monitors how people are driving, so they took the data from 3 million drivers taking 570 million trips over 5.6 billion miles. They found that drivers used their phones for an average of three and a half minutes in 88 out of a hundred trips. From their study:

Everyday, that’s the equivalent of people behind the wheel talking or texting on 5.6-million car rides from our sample alone. When extrapolated for the entire U.S. driving population, the number goes up to roughly 600-million distracted trips a day….This finding is frightening, especially when you consider that a 2-second distraction is long enough to increase your likelihood of crashing by over 20-times. In other words, that’s equivalent to 105 opportunities an hour that you could nearly kill yourself and/or others.

One can download PDFs of the full report and the executive summary.

So that explains the steady stream of accidents despite the prevalence of anti-lock brakes, cameras, and accident avoidance features in passenger vehicles.


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  • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday April 25 2017, @03:27PM (8 children)

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Tuesday April 25 2017, @03:27PM (#499327) Homepage Journal

    Taking your eyes off the road any time you're moving is dangerously idiotic. Stop doing it!

    --
    mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
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  • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday April 25 2017, @04:56PM (2 children)

    by tangomargarine (667) on Tuesday April 25 2017, @04:56PM (#499382)

    So you have a HUD to tell you what your speed is, then? Or would refocusing on the windshield layer technically count as "eyes off the road" anyway.

    --
    "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
    • (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Tuesday April 25 2017, @06:14PM

      by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Tuesday April 25 2017, @06:14PM (#499458)

      I can't drive in rain without corrective lenses for that reason (focusing on the wind-shield). Corrective lenses let me see "though" the rain by focusing on the far distance.

      I briefly tried a speedometer HUD app on my phone. Found I probably spent too much time looking at it. That, and without using tape, the chance of breakage was high.

    • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday April 26 2017, @02:39PM

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Wednesday April 26 2017, @02:39PM (#500054) Homepage Journal

      It only takes a fraction of a second to glance at the speedometer. Not so a text.

      --
      mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
  • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday April 25 2017, @04:59PM (4 children)

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Tuesday April 25 2017, @04:59PM (#499388)

    So you never look in your mirrors?

    • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday April 26 2017, @02:37PM (3 children)

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Wednesday April 26 2017, @02:37PM (#500052) Homepage Journal

      A glance when changing lanes. Also an occasional glance at the speedometer. Ever had a deer cross the interstate right in front of you? You might hit it even if you're looking intently.

      --
      mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
      • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday April 26 2017, @02:52PM (2 children)

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Wednesday April 26 2017, @02:52PM (#500063)

        Taking your eyes off the road any time you're moving is dangerously idiotic. Stop doing it!

        A glance when changing lanes. Also an occasional glance at the speedometer.

        So you're a hypocrite?

        • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday April 27 2017, @04:34PM (1 child)

          by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Thursday April 27 2017, @04:34PM (#500769) Homepage Journal

          No, I have a brain. Glancing at your mirror before changing lanes is safer than not doing so, as with your speedometer. It's a matter of what's safest, glancing at a mirror or not? With a phone, keeping your eyes on the road is safer for you and everyone else on that road.

          --
          mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
          • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday April 27 2017, @06:58PM

            by Grishnakh (2831) on Thursday April 27 2017, @06:58PM (#500843)

            Glancing at your mirror before changing lanes is safer than not doing so,

            You're supposed to be looking over your shoulder to check your blind spots before changing lanes.