The Safety in Texting While Driving

Today's posting is a long one but contains valuable information that if you put into practice can make driving safer for all of us and possibly save your life. Much of it goes against the conventional "wisdom" that leads to wrecks and death. So, please read what was initiated by the recent flux of anti-texting while driving legislation.

Senate Bill 18 is coming on for hearing on Friday 11 February 2011 before the Committee on Public Policy of the Indiana Senate. This bill seeks to remedy the latest buzz about vehicular collisions; distracted driving and texting while driving.

However, distracted and inattentive driving is not any particular action but a phenomena.

A few years ago drowsy driving was the poster child accompanying alcohol as the root of vehicular mayhem. According to the National Sleep Foundation’s 2005 Sleep in America poll, which was widely quoted, 60% of adult drivers – about 168 million people – say they have driven a vehicle while feeling drowsy in the past year, and more than one-third have actually fallen asleep at the wheel!

I contend that it is not an action but instead a mindset that leads to such carnage. People simply don't care or give due diligence to the seriousness of or the need for extensive study, training and practice for operating a motor vehicle on the public roadways.

A month before I got married my wife rear ended another car in Castleton [a section of Indianapolis] during rush hour traffic while she was talking to her sister. Her sister was in the passenger seat, not elsewhere on a phone. But for some reason my former wife felt the need to look at her sister while talking instead of at the road and bumper-to-bumper traffic ahead of her.

During the most recent Christmas break I was driving through Lebanon nearing a school and saw a school speed limit sign with flashing lights. It was about 600-700 feet ahead of me. I wondered why it would be flashing when school was not in session so I tried to read it but was too far away. I became mesmerized by the flashing lights though. Suddenly I snapped back, slammed on the brakes and slid to a stop a few feet into the four-way stop intersection as the other drivers, one in each direction, patiently waited.

Recently much of Indiana has been under snow emergencies. On those days I drove more than ever. I am regularly called upon to take passengers when they entrust no-one else to drive in those conditions. I do it fastest and while texting at times. My passengers can attest to this and their sense of increased safety while I am driving.

There is good reason why I go faster. Primarily it is a result of being hyper focused on driving. As information pours into the brain the body is able to react to that stimulus and process those results. During typical driving experiences the operator is often focused on other things in addition to the forward view of the road; conversation with passengers, scenery, signs, in-car controls and gauges, and etc. Think of it as running through a room with a strobe light on. If you double or triple the number of flashes you could naturally go faster because you would be receiving more visual stimulation [the changing view of the room] and be able to react quicker. Hyper-focusing is like turning up the rate of flashes.

There is another reason to go faster. This has to do with Newton's laws of motion. Mass will continue to move in a straight line unless acted upon by another force. Think of walking through light fluffy snow with one foot suddenly encountering chunks of ice. The resistance against that foot will cause your body to turn in that direction. Increase the resistance and the degree of the turn will increase proportionally. To combat this your body reacts by increasing the force, pushing harder using the muscles in that leg. You may not even be aware of this. A car can't do this though.

Force equals weight times rate. I have personally witnessed the occurrence of slow moving vehicles suddenly veer off the road as they either lost traction on one side or encountered resistance. By increasing the rate of speed the force of the vehicle is exponentially increased. The effect of the resistance, which remains static, is then exponentially decreased. What would have sent a car into a ditch at low speed now becomes a bobble. By keeping a loose grip on the steering wheel the vehicle is able to react to the resistance and self-correct.

I likely have a greater knowledge of physics and vehicle mechanics than most drivers. I also am not your ordinary driver in other ways. I have extensive driving experience and know my vehicle well and others. I worked as a repo agent for years and was often called upon to "steal" a vehicle. I had to know where shifter and various controls were, whether front or rear wheel drive and handling before fleeing in the vehicle.

Whenever I get a new vehicle I take it to a skid pad, gravel lot or other suitable location to feel the vehicle out. I practice losing and regaining control in a controlled environment. In some situations I may make steering adjustments at a rate of about 200 times per minute. When I am on the road I concentrate on the mission of driving. I can, at times, do other things without hazard such as texting.

Not all people possess this skill. I know some IndyCar drivers who manage to drive those cars at very high speeds weaving among traffic, checking mirrors, talking to their team, adjusting controls in the vehicle and doing so with exacting precision all simultaneously. Although not in their racing position I have driven one of those IndyCars at an off-track location, gaining must respect for the skill they must possess to operate those cars from such a low vantage point. One of the things I have learned from racing that I believe most people don't practice is extending the range of forward view.

When I am driving in town I am often looking ahead about 600 feet. On the interstate around 1100-1300 feet. This gives me added time to respond to any unusual circumstances. I also glance at each mirror about every three seconds under normal conditions. Most people have a forward view that extends little, if at all, beyond the car immediately in front of them.

I have done so much in vehicles and yet never had an at-fault collision. I estimate 500,000 miles. One time I was out running around with one of the town cops. I was in my police car about two feet off his bumper as we went through a curve at 90mph. After we stopped he asked what I would have done had he brake-checked me. I said, "Watch you try to explain to the chief why I punted your car into a field at 90mph." Actually I would have braked also while adjusting my steering to keep my bumper flat against his so as not to "pit" him. I drive double footed, that is one foot hovering above the brake pedal while the other is on the accelerator, which allows for more immediate reaction.

One time in downtown Indianapolis a driver failed to yield at a red light until he was motionless completely blocking my lane. I smashed the brake pedal before even releasing my foot from the accelerator and slid to a stop within one foot of his door. I could actually see his eyes close and body brace for impact. In another instance I changed lanes immediately without checking mirrors. Because I normally check mirrors so frequently my mind had already processed where the approximate location of each trailing vehicle would be based upon their various speeds and location since last view. I was also very familiar with that road. Combining short and long-term memory allowed me to avoid a collision.

Unlike some areas which may have regular snow cover on the roads we do not have overhead lane markers. I don't think it is asking too much of a driver to then memorize the relationship between the position of stop-n-go lights or overhead signage to the lane markings on the road so as to know where the lanes are when the roadway is snow covered. On the roads I regularly travel I do have these memorized. I could go on about the other things I do to ensure that I am a competent and efficient driver but I think you get the point. I take it very seriously and spend additional time ensuring I maintain or improve my driving skills.

Officer John Carney of the Fairfax County Police says, "Rubbernecking is the most dangerous distraction, in my experience." "I've had as many as three accidents at one scene, at one intersection." I have had the same experience. I have also found that the flashing lights on emergency response vehicles are a distraction. Maybe we should legislate that these vehicles must turn off their lights so as to not distract drivers on the interstate heading in the opposite direction.

An across the board electronic communication ban fails to acknowledge that people do not all possess the same skills and some are quite superior while others are woefully inferior. I could make an analogy to plumbing. If I walk into 100 houses and bust pipes there will be some people who won't even know to shut off the main. Others will look at the tools in bewilderment yet some will manage to make the needed repairs quickly and properly. Should we then ban all homeowners from doing plumbing because of the inferiority of most?

You can counter that plumbers are trained and licensed and therefore the average homeowner shouldn't be expected to perform to the same standard. Well then what are drivers, neither licensed nor trained? I think we need to make reforms at the first contact level. Driver education programs and the standards for receiving an operators permit which I think now is 3 or 6 proofs of purchases from Lucky Charms because you are relying on luck when you hit the road. In the 2002 Sleep in America poll, nearly all respondents (96%) agreed that information about driving while drowsy should be included in tests for a driver’s license. Driving classes and tests should include elements of real life.

There should be a closed course driving test that includes distracting passengers, asking the operator to text, and other real-life scenarios. If not for the purpose of evaluating the drivers reaction then to at-least let the driver know his competence level.

I have another problem with prohibitions. They are not effective. I could muster some support for this bill if I thought prohibition would achieve the desired results. It may be too early to use this as a comparison because people may not be aware of the prohibition on possession or use of marijuana. But I do know it is a fact that people are using, possessing and selling marijuana in violation of that prohibition.

Is it logical to think that a prohibition on electronic communications while driving will be respected? I contend that what will happen is that people will begin lap texting rather than wheel texting creating an even greater danger as their heads and eyes are pointed downward instead of still forward.

Here are just a few things that take the drivers eyes off the forward view of the road longer than typing text; adjusting mirrors, looking in mirrors, turning on windshield wipers or lights, and adjusting temperature controls. That is not getting into the non necessary actions for operating a motor vehicle which people often engage themselves.

I have had people tell me, wrongly, that it is never safe to use a cell phone or text while driving. I have seen numerous PSA's which convey the same message. If so, then why have exemptions such as those in this bill for emergency responders?

A student driver friend of mine told me it was a Sheriff's deputy who recently pulled out from KFC onto Highway 32 in Lebanon, drove half the speed limit and then drifted into her lane before correcting. What did she notice when she passed him; he was messing around on his computer. What do the data records show Officer Bisard was doing when he crashed into and killed two motorcyclist? Are these the actions that this bill implies are safe, I believe so.

I believe that the use of electronic communications while driving is not an absolute danger but adds an element of safety to drivers on the road. Cell phones and texts have been used to warn other drivers of delays or wrecks on roadways. I know because I have received and sent them. Drivers who avoid delays are less likely to be in a hurry or engage in other activities to save time that may cause further danger. Another thing electronic communication while driving allows is notice of running late so one does not feel the need to speed, run lights or otherwise drive aggressively.

When I write legislation or amendments I give very careful consideration to the intended and possible consequential effects as I believe there is no greater matter for consideration than the custody and well-being of children. It is often a precarious balancing act as those involved in family law know.

I would like to see legislators giving equal weight to all legislation. Is it their purpose and obligation to legislate what individual actions or distractions may be made illegal or is proper to set a performance expectation and hold people accountable to that instead? We already have a reckless driving statute. We already have a superficial operators permit test. I believe it is their purpose to set a standard of acceptable outcomes but now how to particularly achieve that outcome.

Where does it stop? Are Christmas lights, well-sculpted pedestrians with form fitting clothing, talking passengers, road signs at intersections or the trees in Brown County in Autumn a distraction?

I hope legislators and proponents of prohibitions laws such as this give serious consideration to whether it is government's prerogative to micro-manage people's lives, drivers in particular, or set universal standards consistent with logic and reason.

Ultimately, it is up to individual drivers to know their vehicles, their skills and their ability to function at higher performance levels such as those needed for engaging in additional tasks while driving. Just because some people can't perform well doesn't mean that no one should be allowed to.

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©2008, 2011 Stuart Showalter, LLC. Permission is granted to all non-commercial entities to reproduce this article in it's entirety with credit given.