The New York Times today published a major article on the socio-political history of the marketing of cell phones for use by car drivers. I found this part particularly interesting:
Long before cellphones became common, industry pioneers were aware of the risks of multitasking behind the wheel. Their hunches have been validated by many scientific studies showing the dangers of talking while driving and, more recently, of texting.
Despite the mounting evidence, the industry built itself into a $150 billion business in the United States largely by winning over a crucial customer: the driver.
For years, it has marketed the virtues of cellphones to drivers. Indeed, the industry originally called them car phones and extolled them as useful status symbols in ads, like one from 1984 showing an executive behind the wheel that asked: “Can your secretary take dictation at 55 MPH?”
“That was the business,” said Kevin Roe, a telecommunications industry analyst since 1993. Wireless companies “designed everything to keep people talking in their cars.”
They succeeded. The federal government estimated in 2007 that 11 percent of drivers were talking on their phones at any given time. But that success has come at a cost. Researchers at Harvard have estimated that, even seven years ago, drivers using cellphones were causing 2,600 fatal crashes a year in the United States and 570,000 accidents that resulted in a range of injuries, from minor to serious.
Eleven percent of drivers at any given time.
I got a hair-cut on Saturday at one of those “salons” that cater to men and women. While undergoing the procedure, I overheard the women in the next chair explaining to the stylist her technique for texting while driving. She was describing it in very specific terms — fully aware that it is dangerous, but sure that her technique mitigated the danger.
I almost said something. Hmmmmmm…
Have you all read Traffic? You should. One of the major points of the book: None of us are as good a driver as we think we are.
Comments 3
“Psychologically speaking”, drivers’ attitude towards texting can be explained by the over-confidence bias: When it comes to any skill, as a general trend people tend to overestimate their own competence while underestimating the average competence of others. Add to this the “illusion of control” phenomenon (the tendency to believe that we can control events beyond our control), and we have a mass delusion in favour of this behaviour.
Posted 08 Dec 2009 at 12:16 am ¶^ Well said!
Posted 08 Dec 2009 at 7:32 am ¶Lovely… Yes. That’s what Traffic says — although he doesn’t use the term “over-confidence bias.”
Posted 08 Dec 2009 at 10:23 am ¶