Kevin,
Perhaps my point wasn't clear. You say the research is crap, I'm saying it's
an unnecessary waste of time.
There are any number of things people can do that distract their attention
from driving. Focusing on each one individually, or on cell phone use
exclusively, is a waste of time. Just stiffen penalties for causing any
collision or unsafe driving maneuver and catch them all.
Incidentally, your argument suffers from confusing correlation with causation.
It's true that 94% of all prisoners are males but nobody claims the justice
system is gender biased.
-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Stevens [mailto:Kevin_Stevens@pursued-with.net]
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2002 15:23
To: Michael R. Clements
Cc: BayArea Team.Net
Subject: Re: How racers drive
On Saturday, February 23, 2002, at 03:08 , Michael R. Clements wrote:
> Jerry, I admire your purist attitude. It's true that phone is a bad
> distraction but remember that some people are more dangerous behind the
> wheel even without any distractions. The term "unsafe at any speed"
> comes to mind.
True but irrelevant.
> The research I have read is inconclusive in this area. It is certain
> that
> using a hand held cell phone does increase the probability for mistakes
> and
> collisions. But this fact alone is a red herring because tuning the
> radio or
> having a conversation with a passenger also increases the risk. What
> needs to
> be shown, and to my knowledge has yet to be shown, is whether using the
> phone
> increases the risk more than these other distractions.
The research is crap. Here's the nub: Over 50% of the overtly
dangerous things that happen to me on the road prove to have been
performed by a driver on a cell phone. And I'm not preselecting - I
almost never see the phone (or the driver, clearly) BEFORE the clown
action occurs. Anyone with an open mind can reproduce these results.
The research is unnecessary crap.
KeS
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