Re: Arizona joins majority of nation in enacting texting while driving ban [telecom]

On Friday, May 3, 2019 at 3:56:46 PM UTC-4, Barry Margolin wrote: >

>> A number of states also have laws that say you can only talk with >> hands-free phones. > > The idea of hands-free communication is being pushed hard as > the safer alternative in some states. > > In my opinion however, it is the _conversation_, not holding > the phone itself, that is the distraction and danger.

Just so.

A cell phone conversation is not the same as talking to a passenger > in the car; a very different dynamic.

I'm sure that's so. Refelecting on my subjective experience when talking on the phone, I'm sure that my visual cortex gets involved. This isn't a matter of hallucination or profoundly altered state of consciousness, rather one of some kind of visual attentiveness different from what occurs in casual conversation.

But even conversation in the car can tend in this direction, depending, it seems, on the nature and subject of the conversation. Numerous times, I've rudely broken off conversation when driving and chatting with a passenger because it distracted from attention to ceveloping traffic conditions.

I haven't seen any mention of research on how phone conversations invoke visual cortex activity unrelated to what's coming in on the optic nerves but 100 quatloos says any such study would find that cell phone conversation while driving neurologically coopts part of the visual system that should be devoted to attentive driving.

The problem is that virtually everyone talks on their cell phone > while driving, so I can't see people giving this up.

GOoJF card for me: I don't have a cell phone.

Reply to
Mike Spencer
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