Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Let there be snark.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

You cannot shame the shameless.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

You are here: Home / Hands-Free Foolishness

Hands-Free Foolishness

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From the ‘No Kidding’ department:

Talking on a mobile phone while driving your car is just as dangerous when using hands-free equipment as when holding the phone in your hand, according to a Swedish study published on Monday.

The National Road Administration (SNRA) tested 48 people in driving simulators, dividing them into two groups — one with and the other without hands-free mobile phone devices.

The drivers in both groups received about 10 phone calls each during 1.5 hours of simulated driving in different conditions. The test revealed almost no difference in reaction time between the two groups.

“It is the distraction of the phone conversation that is the problem,” Ingemar Skogo, the SNRA director general, told Reuters.

No kidding. ANYONE who has had either a learning or memory course could have told you this- it was not holding onto the phone that was causing the problem, it is the attendant COGNITIVE INTERFERENCE with hand-held OR hands-free phones that is the problem. In other words, “It’s the distraction, stupid.”

Alan Baddeley has constructed an entire career studying these issues- I wish lawmakers would pay attention to some of his work, or at the very least read what I have written about this issue.

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3Comments

  1. 1.

    Andrew Lazarus

    While I realize that using a hands-free cellphone impairs driving skill, I am surprised that there is no ADDITIONAL danger by using a handheld phone. (It’s like learning that low-tar cigarettes are as bad as high-tar, which IIRC is false.)

  2. 2.

    serenity

    Then you get the people who argue, “How is that different than having a conversation with somebody in the car?” The difference is, the person who is riding in the car with you, can see what is going on and knows when to stop talking and/or assists you by pointing things out. The person on the phone does not see anything that is going on and is not inclined to stop chattering nor are they in a position to help you notice things you may otherwise miss before it’s too late.

  3. 3.

    JKC

    Does anyone know of a study looking at accident rates with use of hand-held 2-way radio mics? I’d be curious to see how they compare with phone usage.

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