Core77

Chicken: good. Cell phone driving: bad.

By Rain Noe - March 6, 2008

in Object Culture

Everything tastes like chicken. People eat alligator, they say it tastes like chicken. Kangaroo, chicken. Snake meat, well that tastes like chicken too.

Drunk driving is apparently the chicken of the motor function world. A Stanford study showed sleepy driving "tastes" just like drunk driving, with similar impairment; a University of Utah study showed driving on a cell phone was just as bad or worse than drunk driving. Now textually tells us a CMU study shows that even if you're talking hands-free while driving, it's just as bad as, you guessed it, drunk driving.

All of us multi-task. You're probably not reading this and doing only this--you're flipping between this and work, or there's a TV on somewhere, or you're eating, drinking, something. It's the way of the world now. But somehow, the message that multitasking while piloting what is essentially a 3,000-pound missle is not a good idea just doesn't seem to get through to people.

We all know changing human behavior isn't a viable solution--left to their own devices, people buy knockoff purses, smoke crack, gamble, elect unqualified Presidents, you name it. What's the solution? Can design play a role, and if so, how?

Just give us one idea!

o

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Ben

16 years ago

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Most modern cars that I have sat in feel like a Lay-Z-Boy after taking a couple of pain killers. Ok there are some exceptions... But my point is that we are removed from the environment that is immediately surrounding us and so fall into false security. Have you ever seen someone riding a motorcycle on the phone? I believe we need more sensory input as to the seriousness of our actions. Flood my body with adrenalin when I hit that throttle! Let me know what asphalt feels like with the current conditions.

If not have Jeeves drive, bike, telecommute, or like what was already; said take a bus.

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Nathan

16 years ago

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One idea, ubiquitous technology [ha, I got to say it]. How? Cellphone, computer, lights, car, oven [ie everything you own] is wirelessly connected and talk to each other. They'll demand your attention though, and will only operate if you're talking/using one of them at a time. So, you're car will drive, but only if its the only thing you're doing, if you pull out the cellphone, the car shuts off, like a friend who you ignore at a cocktail party when a more interesting one comes along. Um... can I patent this?
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jerry

16 years ago

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Multi-tasking is merely a way of life. We walk and chew bubble all the while an autonomous system keeps our hearts beating and lungs pumping. Machines, however, are best at it and capable of completing lightning fast calculations every second. So, when it comes to transportation, it might be best to just hand over the wheel to A.I. so you can safely text message, I.M., and videoconference on your way to a party at Sarah Conner's house.
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godbrain66

16 years ago

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A: bus
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Dhouse

16 years ago

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In todays society, going car-less is virtually impossible, giving the auto industry a tight grip on the consumer. Car makers provide a product that people today can hardly live without, and if it wasn't for the beauty of living under a capitalist economy like we do, we would have to accept whatever they provide for us as good enough. Because of competition in the market, we are blessed with the quality of vehicle that we have today. This article brings up a good point in the flaw of our time's demand for the ability to multi-task, and whether it's bad or not, people are still going to do it. While most of the blame has been placed on individual people, with the technology available today, I think we should be asking more of the cars we drive in the way of accident avoidance. After all, were not the 3000 pound bullet, it is. As preposterous as it may sound, designers and inventors should be pushing harder to make cars more responsible for themselves, because people are obviously not going to. I know because I'm just as guilty as the next guy, on occasion, of thinking that this phone call or this text message is more important than not running off the road. Even though people should be more responsible, the industry still needs to make our vehicles better at picking up our slack. Our cars need to be better at warning us when were missing something important, and in my opinion, more automated in general. With the number of people who die in car accidents in this country a year being as high as it is, car makers need to be investing more in vehicle automation especially when it comes to accident avoidance. I really think the technology is there, or is at least close, and with this being so, we need to be pushing them to provide us with cars that are both more intelligent and aware of their surroundings, and with the ability to use this knowledge to avoid accidents. I know that there are have been a lot of great advancements in this department in the past few years, and what I ask for is not that far off, but vehicles are just too dangerous for us not to be holding their creators more accountable than we do.
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kevin rudd

16 years ago

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A couple of things,
Kangaroo does not taste like chicken, so maybe using a cell phone ain't so bad after all.

also, I was told that having a box of tissues on the parcel shelf of a car, in the case of an accident at 60 k/m per hour (whatever in miles), would have the impact of a house brick.

If this were the case, what impact would a house brick have?
that of a house?

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