Re: It's a myth that cellphone use caused the accident rate to rise in the USA

On 5/26/24 07:38, badgolferman wrote:

Andrew <andrew@spam.net> wrote:

How many of you are scientists; how many of you are morons?
>
It's a myth that cellphone use caused the accident rate to rise in the USA
>
The only place that myth exists is in stupid people's minds,
since the main proponents of the myth are those with money to gain,
namely (a) injury lawyers, (b) insurance companies & (c) ticketing police.
>
In the accurate US Census Bureau records, what do you see happening to the
accident rate before, during and after the meteoric rise in cellphone
ownership in the United States?
  <https://www.google.com/search?q=us+census+accident+rate+statistics+by+year>
>
What do you see?
  <https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2010/compendia/statab/130ed/tables/11s1102.pdf>
>
Look at first-order effects, i.e., the accident rate per year.
  <https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/yearly-snapshot>
>
What do you see happening to the rate during skyrocketing cellphone days?
  <https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/historical-fatality-trends/deaths-and-rates/>
>
HINT: US Accident rates trending down were wholly unaffected by cellphones.
>

  As a motorcycle rider, I must be hyper aware of my surroundings, and that
also includes the attention of the drivers ahead/beside/behind me. That
means I watch their driving characteristics and head positions to see if
their attention is on the road or in their lap. I need to know they are
unaware of my presence near them so I can be ready to take evasive
maneuvers if necessary.
 Regardless of what the accident statistics you cited say, I can confidently
assert that 35-40% of motorists are driving distracted because they are
looking at their phones. This doesn’t mean they are going to be an accident
statistic, but it does mean they are a menace to other drivers with their
erratic driving.
 Drivers using their cellphones tend not to move with the flow of traffic,
instead going slower and keeping excessive space in front of them. This has
the effect of pissing off people behind them who try their damnest to get
around them. Distracted drivers can’t stay in their lane, leading to other
drivers having to avoid them. Distracted drivers fail to go when the
traffic light turns green and cause cars farther back to miss the light
cycle and wait again for the green light. There are many more examples, but
you get the picture. Surely you can add more.
 Common sense would dictate that statistics can be manipulated to say what
you want. I’m not saying that’s the case here, but accident rate is not the
only factor which can be used to measure the impact cellphone drivers have
on other drivers. The accident rate can also be influenced by the increased
amount of drivers as opposed to the amount of accidents. And it’s also hard
to determine how many of those actual accidents were the result of
distracted driving or some other factor. I’d wager distracted drivers
caused a far higher rate of accidents than others did. Certainly no one
will admit they were looking at their Facebook page when they ran a red
light or ran into a pedestrian crossing the road.

They don't even have to be looking at the phone or at any display. I saw one idiot in whose car I was a passenger frequently eyeball two dashcam displays to see if he was recording good clips. Motor cycles are small and less visible but while someone is talking *even on bluetooth* ITS *MIND is NOT free* though that part of the watch is relegated to the subconscious which can be very slow and superfluous (that's how some people in dire staits can drive asleep with eyes open, been there).
In addition to *patience and courtesy* defensive driving requires continuous scanning and attention, always looking at spots that are hidden because THAT's where surprises will erupt from right into your face in a fraction of a second. After stopping distance issues, the second problem in tailgaiting is that you don't see 80% of what's in front of you! Suddenly low and narrow section motorbike image fragments flash briefly where you don't even have enough time to see and react to a two-story high cement truck. The biker pays with his life. If I were riding a bike I'd watch for drivers whose heads on not moving all the time.
A good exercise is watching u-tube videos, trying to hit the instant when you know that it's gonna happen; also noting the beady-eyed low-brow darwin awarders refusing to yield because they have the right of way to someone tryin to merge too late for any number of reasons. Not surprisingly they seem completely pucking clueless about the fact that all kinds of people use the road including some who have just lost their job a parent or a child, whose doctor has just told them they have a few month at the most or are going to a funeral if not just passively having a freakin stroke. The "I have the right of way" chest pounding ape show and the grand-prix belong somewehere else, NOT on public roads.
Unfortunately the money beast doesn't want us to spend eight hours on the road when even then we could instead be shopping and producing profits so the future that we have to prepare to trip-up is the one in which computer driven cars follow each other ten feet apart at 200 while all occumpants are tele-gossiping, shopping or watching pornos.