"Kristin A. Ruhle" wrote:
> COnsider that the latest research into brain multitaksing and productivity
> has scary implications for the mobile (which in the USA essentially means
> "car") phone industry - I think Carnegie Mellon is planning another study
> using driving simulators and handsfree mobile phones, What if it turns out
> the human brain can't process such difficult tasks as driving and talking
> on the phone simultaneously, without it being dangerous? The cellphone
> trade groups will rush to fund their own study that draws the opposite
> conclusion, obviously. If no one could make a call from a car that would
> be a lot less calls. The "scientific" argument will go on for years and
> years while certain people make money. (In *my* opinion talking on phones
> in the car is dumb, handsfree kits are a pain and if you must talk on the
> phone I think it's best to find the nearest parking lot. But that's just
> me, I guess. Perhaps a few people are freakishly good multi-taskers and
> just happen to need to use phones heavily in moving cars.)
I have a cellphone which I do my darnedest not to use in traffic. I
have the cellphone so that a) I can reach someone if I have a breakdown,
car-related or otherwise; b) my husband can reach me if I'm out later
than I said I'd be, just to make sure everything's OK; c) my husband can
reach me to tell me to pick up X on my errand run, if he forgot to tell
me before I left the house; d) I can let my husband know what's going on
if a delay has come up or I'm adding a stop to an errand run; e) I can
let my friends know I'm waiting outside their office to pick them up for
lunch.
I know I can't deal with the phone in traffic. The best I can do is
have my passenger be the middleman in a conversation. My biggest
problem is, if there's a problem I have to react to, my passenger
probably sees it and knows to shut up until we're past it, whereas
someone on the other end of a phone conversation won't have a clue as to
what I'm dealing with. I've got enough to deal with driving around here
without *that* on top of it all.
Julia
