cb
My name Is Mike and I'm a professional driver with over a million miles under my belt.
I have made mistakes.
Thankfully They have not ended in tragedy
Cobra has a bluetooth cb radio that will link with your phone so you can comm safely.
I don't know what it is but using the radio doesn't distract you as easily and no matter how you try that phone does, even with a headset and hands free.
That hands free gear is more distracting to operate than just holding the damn thing to your head.
I think it might have something with the sound quality and location.
the phone, your talking into it and it's talking back to you saying over here...I'm over here...
Where as with a cb, your holding the mic but the sound is non local, You have to push to talk...You cant focus your attention to a location in your minds eye or ear.
It could be good listening skills that direct your attention to the person you are speaking with are the culprit.
Without diminishing the seriousness of distracted driving the statistics are flawed.
While there are cases where a person WAS distracted and caused or contributed to an accident, there are many cases where the person involved in an accident was deemed to have been distracted without any proof or evidence there was any distraction.
merely using a device, a map, smoking, eating, or using the radio does not constitute a distraction.
While driving is a complex task, it does not involve 100% of your capacities to drive 100% aware and 100% perfect.
You don't use both hands you alternate. One works and the other stands by and rests . if you don't, you will damage your hands.
If you try to work both hands concurrently you will be all over the road and tire quickly, one will fight the other and you will think it's the car or the road causing it.
Most of what you do in a driving situation is autonomic, it's somewhat involuntary and subconscious.
Your actions and reactions are preprogrammed and predetermined when you learn to drive. There is seldom enough time to think about what you will do in a situation. You must know what you will do. Every sound decision is made in training, By exercising through scenarios "what would I do if this happened?" and by learning through experience of what works and what fails.
Of course you need to be aware of what's around you.
But you don't need to be aware of everything... Only what is relative to your operation of the vehicle and your travel. the pretty Horses out in the field, the interesting architecture are not as important as pedestrians animals and cars in the road.
Pedestrians and cars move at different speeds.
You have to know these speeds, be able to accurately and automatically judge distance and speed relative to the surroundings and relative to other moving objects.
If you have to look at a guage or a dial or a note...you have to find the moment where nothing will be in danger in that time it takes to do that.
There are a great many operations involved in driving not part of actually operating the car that must be done.. If you can accomplish this and not lose contact with your senses you are not distracted.
Merely doing something other than looking at the street and holding the wheel with both hands and working the pedals does not constitute a distraction unless you fail to do so professionally and miss something you should have noticed.
But.. if you don't have to prove a distraction and can find a way to legally deem or declare a distraction has occurred... without any evidence a distraction occurred...even if all evidence proves no distraction occurred...you can win a lot of lawsuits.
and in some cases it's almost impossible to prove a distraction occurred unless the person admits they did not see the hazard.
If you are doing what your supposed to be doing, and not doing what your not supposed to be doing and you do not admit to having done anything wrong and you were aware of every danger and condition and took every appropriate action...You are innocent of negligence.
Everyone makes mistakes why risk it?
Sometimes the Mistake is yours...Sometimes it's someone else's... You cannot save everyone from their own mistakes all the time and that includes your own.
About safe driving, what you do in a dangerous situation isn't as effective in avoiding accidents as How long you spend in a dangerous situation.
You will have many more opportunities to avoid danger than you will have outs to chose from when you or someone in your path is in danger.
Accidents happen in dangerous situations. the longer you spend in danger, the more likely an accident is to occur.
Same thing with speeding... if you need to pass... get it done quickly or slow down and follow. Don't hang out in someone else's safety zone.
The odds of getting caught speeding are much greater going say 5mph over the speed limit all day long... than they are going 10 mph over the limit for half a minute.
Why? the factor is not the degree of the danger but your exposure to risk and the certainty of probability.
