Ban Automobile Passengers?

"The effect of a hands-free cell phone conversation [on driving safety] was as great as talking to a passenger in the car" according to a scientific study says the Science Notebook in today's Washington Post. Does this mean we can look for the National Highway Safety Transportation Agency to promulgate rules permitting only one passenger per car? Or will highway patrol officers be allowed to pull over cars if they see people talking in them?

Comments

[Jim]

Andy & Russ,

Interesting you should mention kids in cars... according to research published by the Society of Automotive Engineers on driver distraction, the safety advantages of putting your kids in the recommended center rear seat position are almost completely outweighed by the added crash risk caused by parents attempting to attend to their children in a remote location from the driver's seat. Damned if you do....

[Jim]

BTW, my prediction is any new laws banning cell phone use or eating in cars (they've currently proposed that somewhere I hear) will result in more crashes because in addtion to talking on the cell phone or eating while driving, people will also be looking out for the cops so they don't get caught. One more thing that distracts from driving.

On the other hand, it's been noted that people with radar detectors actually have the same or fewer accidents than those that don't. This either demonstrates that speeding ipso facto does not increase accident risk, or, as some have suggested, the radar detector-equipped drivers are paying more attention to the road because of the constant beeps from police radar, microwave convenience store ovens and all the other radio interference that seems to make those things go off every mile or so.

[matt]

I agree with jim. I speed all of the time and have yet to be in an accident, probably because I do pay greater attention to what I'm doing. Banning cell phones just gives the cops another reason to pull someone over and give them a ticket. I'm sure they'll get around to banning radios, cd players, food, and anything else that can make driving the least bit enjoyable soon enough.

[Jim]

One concern I rarely see mentioned, probably because it only effects people who drive a lot like commercial drivers and truckers, is driver boredom. Anyone who's been on a long road trip (more than an hour or two) knows you tend to get 'white line fever' after a while and it lulls you to sleep. Think about it this way, it works almost instantly with young children; why do you think as an adult you'd be completely immune?

Talking to passengers, listening to the radio, eating, cellphone yacking etc. probably contribute to automotive safety for these types of drivers (who probably put more hours on the road than regular commuters due to the shear number of hours spent driving) by keeping them from falling asleep at the wheel out of the numbing boredom of continuous driving.

[Trigger]

Illinois Democrats recently proposed legislation that if a driver is 16-18 years old, they may not have any other passengers in the car of that same age group. It didn't pass yet, but did receive a lot of support including an editorial in Chicago's Daily Herald. Bend over teenagers.

[Madog]

What concerns me is that no one has studdied the effects of passengers on bus drivers. If one passenger is bad, just imagine 30! And it gets even worse when you think about school busses.

Ban mass transit for saftey's sake! Think of the children!

[Steven Crane]

How is it that the nanny-state people who don't want more than one teenager in a car never seem to run into the nanny-state people who howl about the environmental effects of too many cars on the road, or the increased risk of accidents? Really, are three teenagers in one car more dangerous than three teenagers in three cars?

[Brian]

I see people talking on cell phones while driving daily...frequently making stupid moves in traffic. The very few times I've attempted to do so, I've found that I didn't like having a hand occupied. That said, on an uncongested freeway or in gridlock, it probably wouldn't make much of a difference.

Two words: secondary enforcement. If a person is yacking on the phone and causes a wreck, or gets pulled over for speeding, not signaling, crossing the center line, etc., throw the book at them. But don't pull people over just for having a phone out. It's a waste of time.

[Nicholas Weininger]

Boy, that would wreak havoc with HOV lanes, wouldn't it? Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[Sean]

This may be the perfect oppurtunity to start a "cone of silence" business.

[Andy]

Kids should definitely be banned from cars...

[Russ]

Kids should definitely be banned... cars or no cars.

[Jodie]

Will you guys please be QUIET!!

I'm trying to concentrate! ... Working on my teleportation invention ain't easy. It's taking me a while. And all this static and blather isn't helping any.

So hush! (Please!)