Cell-phone users can't even WALK well

[Darth Wong]

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/1 ... lking.html

Walking tough for cellphone users: study
Last Updated: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 | 10:53 AM ET
CBC News

Never mind driving while talking on a cellphone, new U.S. research shows people have a hard time even walking while talking on a mobile.

In a study out of Western Washington University, researchers planted a polka-dot-dressed clown with a big red nose riding a unicycle around a campus square and measured those who noticed the clown and who didn't.

Just 25 per cent of people talking on their cellphones saw the unicycling clown, compared to 50 per cent of people walking alone, in pairs and even those listening to portable music players.

"We asked, 'Did you notice anything unusual today?' And if they didn't volunteer the clown, we asked them directly, 'Did you see the unicycling clown?'" psychology professor and lead researcher Ira Hyman said in an interview on CBC Radio's As It Happens on Tuesday.

"As you can imagine, cellphone users were the most oblivious," he said.

Almost always, cellphone users were shocked when their lack of awareness was pointed out.

"They're like, What!' And they turn and they're surprised they could have missed that," said Hyman, adding this lack of awareness is one of the "real hazards" of using a mobile.

"When you're on a cellphone you may feel like you're aware of the world around you and it seems that you're connected, but you're unaware of the things you've missed and this is a problem because most people may think, 'I do just fine. I'm aware of what's going on around me.'

"But when you actually show them things they've missed, they can be utterly surprised and wonder how it is that I could have missed such things."

Study after study has shown drivers are less reactive and notice fewer events when talking on a cellphone. Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Nova Scotia have banned drivers from talking on hand-held devices. A similar ban comes into effect in Ontario on Oct. 26.

Interesting results

People often make the argument that talking on a cellphone is no less distracting than listening to a radio or talking to a passenger. Not so, said Hyman.

In a second part of his study, researchers simply observed people talking on mobiles as they walked through crowds.

"Compared to people who were just walking by themselves or walking while listening to their iPhone, or even walking in pairs, cellphone users are slower, they change directions more frequently, they weave and they're much less likely to acknowledge any other people around them."

Ultimately, "it's something about the cellphone conversation which is disrupting," he said.

"Walking is a heck of a lot easier than driving a car. It's something people have been doing their whole lives, and if you can't manage to walk effectively and keep track of the world around you, how much harder is it going to be with the task of driving, which is a much more demanding task."

The study is published in an upcoming issue of the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology.

It appears that humans are even worse at multi-tasking than we thought. You would think that it would be almost impossible not to notice a brightly coloured clown riding around on a unicycle. That cell-phone driving ban can't come quickly enough. I just hope they actually enforce it.

[tim31]

I'm surprised it's taken this long. It's been banned across all states here for quite a few years; but like speeding, people are still doing it and getting caught. Who the hell doesn't have a handsfree option on their phone these days?

[aerius]

I can't say I'm surprised, I've seen people at the airport walk right into concrete columns while talking away on their cell phones. Or there'll be a pile of luggage on the floor and some dumbass on a cell phone will walk right into it, I've even seen people try to go up or down the wrong escalator and take a good tumble.

As for the cell phone driving ban, hah, good fucking luck. If you think the enforcement and lack of consequences for repeated drunk driving is bad, you'll fucking lose it once you see how bad the cell phone ban ends up being. I can almost guarantee that it'll be the most ineffective law that's ever been passed.

[Isolder74]

Considering the number of times I've almost been run over just crossing the street by cell phone users I'm surprised it's taken this long!

I can't wait for the streets to be covered with lawyer billboards for DWT cases!

[General Zod]

This reminds me of the dumbass girl who fell into a manhole while texting. I can't really say I'm surprised though, even when I'm talking on the phone in a relatively quiet hallway I tend to not focus on anything else and sometimes won't notice who it was that just walked by.

[Sarevok]

Is it possible for base stations to track approximate speed and location of a cellphone ? Some operators here have a service that could show your location within a few hundred meters accuracy. Can that idea be taken further to determine when the phone owner is on the road and moving in a car ? Using that data you could temporarily put a phone to offline mode untill the system deems the user is no longer moving.

[Darth Wong]

Is it possible for base stations to track approximate speed and location of a cellphone ? Some operators here have a service that could show your location within a few hundred meters accuracy. Can that idea be taken further to determine when the phone owner is on the road and moving in a car ? Using that data you could temporarily put a phone to offline mode untill the system deems the user is no longer moving.

I think someone would (quite rightly) point out that this does not prove anyone was driving while using a cell-phone. It could be a passenger in a car, or on a bus.

[General Zod]

Is it possible for base stations to track approximate speed and location of a cellphone ? Some operators here have a service that could show your location within a few hundred meters accuracy. Can that idea be taken further to determine when the phone owner is on the road and moving in a car ? Using that data you could temporarily put a phone to offline mode untill the system deems the user is no longer moving.

Seems like it would require a pretty substantial investment of resources and effort considering the sheer amount of technical differences between carriers. I'd think it would be easier to have police start cracking down on idiots who use phones in their cars and issue them tickets on sight as aggressively as they crack down on drunk driving instead.

[aerius]

It should be possible, but then the problem is how do you tell the person's in a car and not on a bus, or if the person's a passenger in the car and not the driver. Personally I wouldn't be upset if every cellphone on the road got shut down, then again I don't own one and I hate the damn things with a passion so I'm not the best person to ask.

[Aaron]

I'm surprised it's taken this long. It's been banned across all states here for quite a few years; but like speeding, people are still doing it and getting caught. Who the hell doesn't have a handsfree option on their phone these days?

Canada sometimes has fucked up priorities when it comes to driving. That said the law in Ontario will ban the use of any hand held device while driving. That apparently includes the use of cellphones with a speaker or headset, so if you want to get a hold of someone while driving you will need to pull off or have a passenger do it.

[Mr Flibble]

Canada sometimes has fucked up priorities when it comes to driving. That said the law in Ontario will ban the use of any hand held device while driving. That apparently includes the use of cellphones with a speaker or headset, so if you want to get a hold of someone while driving you will need to pull off or have a passenger do it.

That is quite sensible really given that studies such as this show that driving is impaired when using phones even when using handsfree systems

13. March 2006 06:06

Do you think using a hands-free device makes it okay to talk on a cell phone while driving? Despite the well-intended laws requiring the use of hands-free devices, a driver's performance is impaired when distracted by even the simplest tasks, whether or not both hands are on the steering wheel.
Until now, the slowing of reaction time under multitasking conditions, referred to as the psychological-refractory-period (PRP) effect, has been studied mainly with simple tasks in laboratory settings. But a new research study presents a unique perspective of how the PRP effect pertains to driving, perhaps the most ubiquitous real-world task where non-optimal performance can have serious consequences.

The study was conducted by University of California, San Diego scientists Jonathan Levy and Harold Pashler, along with Erwin Boer of ERB Consulting. Their research appears in the article "Central Interference in Driving: Is There Any Stopping the Psychological Refractory Period?" in the March issue of Psychological Science.

Forty students participated in the study, which involved driving a car simulator, composed of a large plasma screen, a steering wheel, and gas and brake pedals located on the floor. In the simulation, students followed a lead car and were instructed to brake as soon as they saw the illumination of the lead car's brake lights (they were instructed to avoid gradual slowing even if it was possible). While subjects performed the braking task, they occasionally were required to respond to a concurrent easy task, where a stimulus - either a light flash in the lead car's rear window or an auditory tone - was randomly presented once or twice. Participants indicated the stimulus' frequency, sometimes by pressing a key on the steering wheel once or twice and sometimes by saying aloud the words "one" or "two."

Subjects in the study braked more slowly when the easy task's stimulus was presented simultaneously or shortly before the brake lights, thereby demonstrating the PRP effect occurs with "real-world" tasks. Participants were 174 milliseconds slower at braking when the two tasks occurred at the same time than when they were presented 350 milliseconds apart. While 174 milliseconds may sound tiny, it translates to 16 feet in a car going 65 mph. Responses were just as slow with auditory stimuli (tones) and vocal responses compared to visual stimuli (light flashes) and manual responses, meaning that even tasks that do not have a visual or manual component (like hands-free talking) can still lower response times when driving.

"This study joins a growing body of research showing that 'freeing up the hands' does not result in faster brake response times," says Levy, the lead author on the project. He adds, "not everyone appreciates the processing cost while driving imposed by carrying out other tasks, even easy ones."

[General Zod]

Canada sometimes has fucked up priorities when it comes to driving. That said the law in Ontario will ban the use of any hand held device while driving. That apparently includes the use of cellphones with a speaker or headset, so if you want to get a hold of someone while driving you will need to pull off or have a passenger do it.

Don't they teach that talking to passengers is a distraction that should be avoided when you're driving in Driver's Ed anyway? I'm failing to see why banning any type of cellphone use is unreasonable. I mean you can't really clamp down on people talking to each other, but talking on a cell phone? Simple matter of issuing a subpoena for the phone records to prove they were using it at the time in question.

[Isolder74]

Most of the time when I've almost been run over the driver on the phone had no clue that he/she just almost hit a person. Most of them that have done it were driving on the main road and turning right onto a low traffic cross street. I think the only thing they might not have been even looking at the road other then to know where the street was and even then I'm doubtful.

People making right hand turns seem to be the worst as most of the time they usually don't have to stop as they aren't crossing traffic but a few have done the same to me turning left so obviously only looking at just the road in front of them rather then where they are actually going! A few cut the turn so close that if a car was in the left turn lane they'd have hit them and me !

[Connor MacLeod]

We have laws against using a cell phone when driving in Minnesota - people still do it anyhow. At least I'm still pretty sure we had laws likethat.

[Darth Wong]

We have laws against using a cell phone when driving in Minnesota - people still do it anyhow.

Is the enforcement lax? Are the penalties weak? Or is it both?

Frankly, police are terribly lax on all manner of driving violations. How many people do you see every day, flagrantly violating traffic rules left and right with no consequence at all? The police need more unmarked cars, and more supervisory instructions to specifically nail things like bad lane changes, driving on the shoulder, and tailgating; I met a cop a while ago who said that his blood pressure goes through the roof when he's off-duty because people drive totally differently when there's no cop cars around, but he can't pull them over.

[Aaron]

Don't they teach that talking to passengers is a distraction that should be avoided when you're driving in Driver's Ed anyway? I'm failing to see why banning any type of cellphone use is unreasonable. I mean you can't really clamp down on people talking to each other, but talking on a cell phone? Simple matter of issuing a subpoena for the phone records to prove they were using it at the time in question.

I never said it was unreasonable, in fact I've stated my support for such a ban before. But yes, they do teach that talking to passengers is a distraction.

[General Zod]

Don't they teach that talking to passengers is a distraction that should be avoided when you're driving in Driver's Ed anyway? I'm failing to see why banning any type of cellphone use is unreasonable. I mean you can't really clamp down on people talking to each other, but talking on a cell phone? Simple matter of issuing a subpoena for the phone records to prove they were using it at the time in question.

I never said it was unreasonable, in fact I've stated my support for such a ban before. But yes, they do teach that talking to passengers is a distraction.

You said that Canada has fucked up priorities, then listed the handset ban. I'm not sure what else that was supposed to mean besides calling it unreasonable.

[Aaron]

You said that Canada has fucked up priorities, then listed the handset ban. I'm not sure what else that was supposed to mean besides calling it unreasonable.

The fucked up priorities was in response to tim's surprise that we did not have one. I apologize if my post was not clear (it was clear in my head).

[General Zod]

You said that Canada has fucked up priorities, then listed the handset ban. I'm not sure what else that was supposed to mean besides calling it unreasonable.

The fucked up priorities was in response to tim's surprise that we did not have one. I apologize if my post was not clear (it was clear in my head).

Ah, okay. That makes sense then.

[Connor MacLeod]

We have laws against using a cell phone when driving in Minnesota - people still do it anyhow.

Is the enforcement lax? Are the penalties weak? Or is it both?

It could be either, I honestly don't know and would have to check. Even if they were severe, people would still probably do it anyways just cuz of personal convenience. The same way they eat or drink cofffee or talk or speed or whatever.

I have to use a crosswlak on a daily basis to get to work, and not a week goes by when at least ONE asshole decides to run the red light just becuase its rush hour and they can't be bothered to slow down.

Personally I've gotten sick and tired of the selfish attitudes of drivers around where I live, and I am guessing this might extend to America itself.

Frankly, police are terribly lax on all manner of driving violations. How many people do you see every day, flagrantly violating traffic rules left and right with no consequence at all? The police need more unmarked cars, and more supervisory instructions to specifically nail things like bad lane changes, driving on the shoulder, and tailgating; I met a cop a while ago who said that his blood pressure goes through the roof when he's off-duty because people drive totally differently when there's no cop cars around, but he can't pull them over.

Or possibly better funding.

[sketerpot]

We need to get those Al Shabaab militants to come and make sure everybody signals their turns. The police sure aren't doing much about it.

[Siege]

If I recall correctly the penalty for using your phone whilst driving a vehicle is €150 around these parts. I'm not sure if it works or not, but if the police spots you on the phone in your car you're going to get fined, it's a priority for them because it's so damned unsafe.

[SecondToDie]

Frankly, police are terribly lax on all manner of driving violations. How many people do you see every day, flagrantly violating traffic rules left and right with no consequence at all? The police need more unmarked cars, and more supervisory instructions to specifically nail things like bad lane changes, driving on the shoulder, and tailgating; I met a cop a while ago who said that his blood pressure goes through the roof when he's off-duty because people drive totally differently when there's no cop cars around, but he can't pull them over.

Traffic enforcement is weak where I live, as well. Two people could probably drag race down the entire length of the major arterial road in my city and not get caught.

I really hate it when I hear people in my area complain about police officers giving tickets when they do crack down on certain violations. Our city is going to need over a hundred police officers regardless of whether they give out tickets and I would rather have their funding come from fines on lawbreakers than sales and property taxes on law-abiding citizens.

[Mayabird]

On the topic of multitasking - this isn't a new discovery at all. The human brain automatically allocates resources to whatever it deems most important when its attention is divided, and communication always comes first, far ahead of everything else.

[Stark]

This reminds me of the dumbass girl who fell into a manhole while texting. I can't really say I'm surprised though, even when I'm talking on the phone in a relatively quiet hallway I tend to not focus on anything else and sometimes won't notice who it was that just walked by.

I'd imagine texting is more distracting even than talking; instead of simply being oblivious of a clown, people typing text messages would be totally focused on their keypad and screen. You actually see people doing this while driving!