Re: Mobile Phones Usage During Driving - Some Facts

Martin²

>> ... However, studies have found out that the distraction is caused by
>> the conversation itself; hence, both hand-held and hands-free cell
>> phones contribute towards road traffic accidents...
>> http://personaltechinfo.googlepages....ut_cell_phones
>
"George Weston"
> Ergo, conversations of any kind while driving are potentially dangerous.
>
Not quite right.
The problem is the GSM compression algorithm (codec), which is deliberately
designed to lose some data in order to maximise cell capacity. This was
demonstrated on Tomorrow's World back when GSM system was launched.
Your brain then has to 'guess' at what the word was, therefore you need to
concentrate more to hold conversation on mobile phone. Again this has been
demonstrated with people on driving simulators shoving delayed reaction.
Note that the GSM codec can also be used in VoIP, it is the highest
available compression and the only one usable on dial-up line.

The other problem is that passenger(s) is (are) aware when you busy driving
(on a junction, etc) and will naturally pause the conversation, while person
on the other end of a mobile phone will start saying "Hello, hello, are you
still there..." thus distracting you further.
Regards,
Martin

Kraftee

Martin² wrote:

>
> The other problem is that passenger(s) is (are) aware when you busy
> driving (on a junction, etc) and will naturally pause the
> conversation,

You've never driven with my partner, once they start babbling, nothing
stops them.


while person on the other end of a mobile phone will
> start saying "Hello, hello, are you still there..." thus
> distracting you further.

That's why you ask them to hang on & then ignore them until it's safe
to talk (via your handsfree kit of course)

Chris

Martin² wrote:


>The other problem is that passenger(s) is (are) aware when you busy driving
>(on a junction, etc) and will naturally pause the conversation, while person
>on the other end of a mobile phone will start saying "Hello, hello, are you
>still there..." thus distracting you further.
>Regards,
>Martin
>

....and on the other side of the coin, many drivers constantly turn
their heads during a face-to-face conversation to maintain eye
contact, whereas a call on a hands free kit allows the driver to keep
his eyes on the road at all times.

Chris

The Natural Philosopher

Chris wrote:
> Martin² wrote:
>
>
>> The other problem is that passenger(s) is (are) aware when you busy driving
>> (on a junction, etc) and will naturally pause the conversation, while person
>> on the other end of a mobile phone will start saying "Hello, hello, are you
>> still there..." thus distracting you further.
>> Regards,
>> Martin
>>
>
> ...and on the other side of the coin, many drivers constantly turn
> their heads during a face-to-face conversation to maintain eye
> contact, whereas a call on a hands free kit allows the driver to keep
> his eyes on the road at all times.
>
> Chris
I used hands free quite a bit. I used to say 'hang on, got a traffic
situation coming up, wait till I get round this roundabout'

Having mindless babble coming at you is something you get use to if yu
listen to eh radio: its the other person going 'hello, are you there?'
as you skilfully control a power slide and weave your way passed
assorted zombies siting looking stupid, putting on their lipstick, or
wiping the sick off their children's mouths..


;-)

mymail@hotmail.com

On Thu, 22 Nov 2007 10:08:30 +0000, The Natural Philosopher <a@b.c>
wrote:

>Chris wrote:
>> Martin² wrote:
>>
>>
>>> The other problem is that passenger(s) is (are) aware when you busy driving
>>> (on a junction, etc) and will naturally pause the conversation, while person
>>> on the other end of a mobile phone will start saying "Hello, hello, are you
>>> still there..." thus distracting you further.
>>> Regards,
>>> Martin
>>>
>>
>> ...and on the other side of the coin, many drivers constantly turn
>> their heads during a face-to-face conversation to maintain eye
>> contact, whereas a call on a hands free kit allows the driver to keep
>> his eyes on the road at all times.
>>
>> Chris
>I used hands free quite a bit. I used to say 'hang on, got a traffic
>situation coming up, wait till I get round this roundabout'
>
>Having mindless babble coming at you is something you get use to if yu
>listen to eh radio: its the other person going 'hello, are you there?'
>as you skilfully control a power slide and weave your way passed
>assorted zombies siting looking stupid, putting on their lipstick, or
>wiping the sick off their children's mouths..

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I think it is time the
police cracked down on mobile users whilst they are driving I never
have my phone switched on while I am driving and the only reason I
have take with me is in case of a brake down or some other emergency.

Chris Curtis

<mymail*************> wrote in message
news:lc5bk3df1nkbd195fkt07f6817r2tgua3e@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 22 Nov 2007 10:08:30 +0000, The Natural Philosopher <a@b.c>
> wrote:
>
>>Chris wrote:
>>> Martin² wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> The other problem is that passenger(s) is (are) aware when you busy
>>>> driving
>>>> (on a junction, etc) and will naturally pause the conversation, while
>>>> person
>>>> on the other end of a mobile phone will start saying "Hello, hello, are
>>>> you
>>>> still there..." thus distracting you further.
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Martin
>>>>
>>>
>>> ...and on the other side of the coin, many drivers constantly turn
>>> their heads during a face-to-face conversation to maintain eye
>>> contact, whereas a call on a hands free kit allows the driver to keep
>>> his eyes on the road at all times.
>>>
>>> Chris
>>I used hands free quite a bit. I used to say 'hang on, got a traffic
>>situation coming up, wait till I get round this roundabout'
>>
>>Having mindless babble coming at you is something you get use to if yu
>>listen to eh radio: its the other person going 'hello, are you there?'
>>as you skilfully control a power slide and weave your way passed
>>assorted zombies siting looking stupid, putting on their lipstick, or
>>wiping the sick off their children's mouths..
>
> Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I think it is time the
> police cracked down on mobile users whilst they are driving I never
> have my phone switched on while I am driving and the only reason I
> have take with me is in case of a brake down or some other emergency.

The police aren't around to 'crack down' on anything nowadays!
How many cars do you see without lights on when its foggy?
And how many with rear lights on when it isn't...

Chris

The Natural Philosopher

mymail************* wrote:
> On Thu, 22 Nov 2007 10:08:30 +0000, The Natural Philosopher <a@b.c>
> wrote:
>
>> Chris wrote:
>>> Martin² wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> The other problem is that passenger(s) is (are) aware when you busy driving
>>>> (on a junction, etc) and will naturally pause the conversation, while person
>>>> on the other end of a mobile phone will start saying "Hello, hello, are you
>>>> still there..." thus distracting you further.
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Martin
>>>>
>>> ...and on the other side of the coin, many drivers constantly turn
>>> their heads during a face-to-face conversation to maintain eye
>>> contact, whereas a call on a hands free kit allows the driver to keep
>>> his eyes on the road at all times.
>>>
>>> Chris
>> I used hands free quite a bit. I used to say 'hang on, got a traffic
>> situation coming up, wait till I get round this roundabout'
>>
>> Having mindless babble coming at you is something you get use to if yu
>> listen to eh radio: its the other person going 'hello, are you there?'
>> as you skilfully control a power slide and weave your way passed
>> assorted zombies siting looking stupid, putting on their lipstick, or
>> wiping the sick off their children's mouths..
>
> Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I think it is time the
> police cracked down on mobile users whilst they are driving I never
> have my phone switched on while I am driving and the only reason I
> have take with me is in case of a brake down or some other emergency.

That's obviously right FOR YOU, but don't underestimate the pitch of
concentration and the ability to be simply rude to callers if the
traffic demands it that comes after years of high mileage driving.

I WISH the police instead of prosecuting for technical offences, would
actually prosecute people who DO have accidents.

As it is, if you reverse out into a car coming along a main road, you
get nothing. If you do 38mph down te same road at 3 a.m. you get £60 and
three points.

Which is in fact the worse offence?

But of course, which is easier to get an easy conviction on?

dennis@home

"The Natural Philosopher" <a@b.c> wrote in message
news:1195768184.59016.0@demeter.uk.clara.net...
> mymail************* wrote:
>> On Thu, 22 Nov 2007 10:08:30 +0000, The Natural Philosopher <a@b.c>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Chris wrote:
>>>> Martin² wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> The other problem is that passenger(s) is (are) aware when you busy
>>>>> driving (on a junction, etc) and will naturally pause the
>>>>> conversation, while person on the other end of a mobile phone will
>>>>> start saying "Hello, hello, are you still there..." thus distracting
>>>>> you further.
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>> Martin
>>>> ...and on the other side of the coin, many drivers constantly turn
>>>> their heads during a face-to-face conversation to maintain eye
>>>> contact, whereas a call on a hands free kit allows the driver to keep
>>>> his eyes on the road at all times.
>>>>
>>>> Chris
>>> I used hands free quite a bit. I used to say 'hang on, got a traffic
>>> situation coming up, wait till I get round this roundabout'
>>>
>>> Having mindless babble coming at you is something you get use to if yu
>>> listen to eh radio: its the other person going 'hello, are you there?'
>>> as you skilfully control a power slide and weave your way passed
>>> assorted zombies siting looking stupid, putting on their lipstick, or
>>> wiping the sick off their children's mouths..
>>
>> Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I think it is time the
>> police cracked down on mobile users whilst they are driving I never
>> have my phone switched on while I am driving and the only reason I
>> have take with me is in case of a brake down or some other emergency.
>
> That's obviously right FOR YOU, but don't underestimate the pitch of
> concentration and the ability to be simply rude to callers if the traffic
> demands it that comes after years of high mileage driving.
>
> I WISH the police instead of prosecuting for technical offences, would
> actually prosecute people who DO have accidents.

The police do prosecute if there is evidence.
It is easier to collect the evidence for speeding.
I wish they would do "speeders" for the correct offence when they are
snapped.. driving without due care and attention.
If you deliberately drive past a camera too fast, that is speeding.
If you don't see the camera that is without due care.

> As it is, if you reverse out into a car coming along a main road, you get
> nothing. If you do 38mph down te same road at 3 a.m. you get £60 and three
> points.
>
> Which is in fact the worse offence?

The speeding as you are more likely to kill or seriously injure someone by
going too fast.
If you hit a car reversing out at 30 mph neither of you is likely to get
hurt (which is why the police are seldom called to an accident btw).
A speeder hitting a pedestrian at 38 mph will probably kill them.

>
> But of course, which is easier to get an easy conviction on?

Fortunately the worse offense of speeding.

Martin²

"Chris"
> ...and on the other side of the coin, many drivers constantly turn
> their heads during a face-to-face conversation to maintain eye
> contact, whereas a call on a hands free kit allows the driver to keep
> his eyes on the road at all times.
>
> Chris

You only turn you head when you had a good look and know it's safe, just
pure self preservation !
Otherwise there would be millions of accidents every day.
Nothing to do with using mobile...
Regards,
Martin

R. Mark Clayton

"Martin²" <never@give.one> wrote in message
news:13k9st7m2b1ck2b@corp.supernews.com...
>>> ... However, studies have found out that the distraction is caused by
>>> the conversation itself; hence, both hand-held and hands-free cell
>>> phones contribute towards road traffic accidents...
>>> http://personaltechinfo.googlepages....ut_cell_phones
>>
> "George Weston"
>> Ergo, conversations of any kind while driving are potentially dangerous.
>>
> Not quite right.
> The problem is the GSM compression algorithm (codec), which is
> deliberately designed to lose some data in order to maximise cell
> capacity. This was demonstrated on Tomorrow's World back when GSM system
> was launched.
> Your brain then has to 'guess' at what the word was, therefore you need to
> concentrate more to hold conversation on mobile phone. Again this has been
> demonstrated with people on driving simulators shoving delayed reaction.

Rubbish - the GSM algorithm is designed to keep the best clues to speech at
the lowest data rate, and it is very good at it - people still sound clear
with their voice clearly recognisable on mobile to mobile calls. OTOH GSM
is poor for music.

> Note that the GSM codec can also be used in VoIP, it is the highest
> available compression and the only one usable on dial-up line.

Utter rubbish. Dial up lines are normally compressed with A-Law or mu-Law
depending on where in the world you are. There are other methods too such
as DACS and adaptive PCM.

>
> The other problem is that passenger(s) is (are) aware when you busy
> driving (on a junction, etc) and will naturally pause the conversation,
> while person on the other end of a mobile phone will start saying "Hello,
> hello, are you still there..." thus distracting you further.

It is the additional activity that is the problem. Last time I had a bump
which was my fault I was talking to two people in my car.

> Regards,
> Martin
>

Of course there is a quasi religious contingent who want vastly reduced
speed limits, zero alcohol and no use of phones in cars. Which would prefer
someone who rings ahead to say they will be late or someone who races to get
there on time?