When I'm sitting at a light I'd prefer a large and easy to navigate interface to change what playlist I'm in or maybe change to the podcast app or something along those lines instead of a clickwheel. There's a reason why I don't have the MacBook Wheel.
When I'm sitting at a stop light and want to change the music, I prefer a big touchscreen versus a single-row seven segment display, several knobs, and a bunch of dials.
When I'm wanting to quickly type an address I prefer a QUERTY keyboard on a touchscreen than a list of letters alphabetically and a wheel to scroll and select them.
Sure, but that wasn’t the statements I was replying to?
I’ve always thought touchscreens were a huge hassle and terrible for anything you needed to do regularly without looking. I bought my current vehicle avoiding touchscreens.
But the assertion was it shouldn’t be a thing using any non-driving essential controls at all while driving, correct?
> It is when you’re sitting at a light, or crawling at 2mph on the freeway and can keep an eye on traffic. Do you really think it’s ridiculous to change the radio in those scenarios?
When you're sitting at a light, sure, adjust the stereo, adjust the AC, change your seat position, change your driving mode, do whatever with the center console. You're stopped. Just make sure to start going when the light turns green and the intersection is safe.
When you're creeping in stop and go traffic, no, I don't think you should be making lots of stereo adjustments or fiddling with the AC or doing anything else with the center console. Your car is in motion! You should be paying attention to the road! Maybe if we didn't have people fiddling with the center console and actually focusing on just driving we wouldn't have so many rear-end collisions of people crawling in traffic. Why do you think its OK to be distracted when the car is in motion, even if only at low speeds? Why is it OK to be distracted by buttons and knobs but not a screen? In my opinion, doing anything other than driving when the car is moving is less safe than just focusing on driving. But for some reason lots of people here think buttons and knobs are perfectly safe to play with while driving but screens, those are the devil!
If the car is in motion, you shouldn't be messing with the center console, at all. And when I drive my cars, when my car is in motion and I'm in the driver's seat, I do not mess with the center console. At all.
Believe it or not, it’s actually possible to pay attention to two (or more!) things at once! It’s even required to drive effectively, such as paying attention to side and rear view mirrors while also paying attention to what’s going on in front, while also paying attention to vehicle handling and road conditions.
Or are you white knuckling while staring straight ahead the entire time, and thinking you’re being safer?
And no, I haven’t had any accidents despite driving a lot.
You're right, driving involves paying attention to and doing a lot of things all at once. None of those things should be making fine adjustments to the stereo or manipulating the climate controls or placing a phone call or adjusting the drive mode (whatever that means) or any of the other features on your center console.
I'm not white knuckling it, but I'm also not lying to myself and thinking that messing with the stereo or anything else isn't reducing my focus on driving.
Why is it OK to be distracted by adjusting buttons and knobs that are superfluous to driving when the car is in motion?
If you're spending upwards of 4 hrs a day 'in motion', like many people in many areas are, AND it isn't any more distracting than adjusting a mirror or figuring out what the idiot driving next to us is doing (when there isn't an idiot driving next to us), why not?
If someone can't handle it, then sure. But pretending the moment someone glances over and taps a button they're going to die isn't borne out by real life experiences either.
> AND it isn't any more distracting than adjusting a mirror
You shouldn't be adjusting mirrors while you're driving, they should already be adjusted before you even put the car in drive. Do you really start driving first, and then once in busy streets decide that's the time to adjust your mirrors? It's incredible the number of things you don't even realize distract you while you drive and think it'd entirely normal and fine to be distracted.
Next thing I know you'll be telling me you need to be buckling your seatbelt while driving highway speeds and that everyone eats sandwiches while behind the wheel.
It's not a matter of handling it or not. You are less focused when operating distractions on the center console, no matter who you are. I'm not saying the moment you look away to press a button you're guaranteed to die, don't put words in my mouth.
Why do you think it is OK to be distracted with buttons and knobs when driving your car?
If by distracted you means ‘occasionally pokes it when necessary for comfort when it’s safe’, and ‘operates it as a normal human being’ (including tweaking a mirror when you notice it’s not where you want to be able to see, including gasp while driving when safe) then the NTSB, every state and federal government, and 99% of the driving public says yes. Including me.
Seriously, do you think anyone actually is going to stop and pull to the side of the road to tweak their AC setting or change the channel on their radio unless it’s some crazy scenario where it’s actually not safe to do so?
So you do think its acceptable to be a distracted driver, because plenty of other people are also distracted and don't bother adjusting their mirrors ahead of time.
I don't think people should pull over to the side of the road to change their AC setting or change their radio. Lots of cars these days have auto climate controls. Lots of cars have media controls on the wheel. There's practically no excuse to touch a single button or knob or screen control on the center console when the car is in motion.
You're saying its necessary to play around with the stereo. Its not necessary to change anything with the radio that you can't do from steering controls while you drive. You may want to do that. People may want to eat a sandwich while they drive, but that doesn't mean it doesn't distract them. Maybe they think its necessary to text someone they're running late while they're driving. That's a common thing people do. I guess by your standard of "a normal human being does it" then its OK. Something tells me you'd probably think its not a safe thing, texting and driving. So maybe your standard of normal people do it all the time should probably be adjusted?
I haven't even had to adjust my AC once in the last several dozen trips, and I definitely don't live where there's only nice weather outside. You shouldn't need to adjust it either. I haven't needed to make any kind of minute adjustments to my stereo outside of changing to different presets or hitting next track or turning the volume up or down or using my voice to change what playlist or artist I'm listening to. I set all my presets of the stations I care to listen to ahead of time and make playlists of the music I like and I don't need to mess with the stereo while the car is moving.
You're bringing up the NTSB and arguing you can easily multitask and the NTSB agrees with you. You're wrong on that one. Don't drag people into an argument unless you can actually cite them.
> Many drivers believe they can multitask and still operate a vehicle safely. But multitasking is a myth. Humans can only focus cognitive attention on one task at a time. That’s why the driving task should be a driver’s sole focus.
The NTSB agrees with me. When you're operating your vehicle, "the driving task should be a driver's sole focus." Not messing around with the stereo. Not adjusting the air conditioning. Not playing around with your mirrors. Not adjusting your seat. The sole focus of the driver should be driving the car, what I've been saying all along. Please show me a citation where the NTSB says "its perfectly fine to play around with your stereo while you're driving a 4,000lb death machine 110 feet per second." I imagine they say nothing of the sort.
Why do you think it is OK to be distracted with buttons and knobs when driving your car?
You're definitely crossing well outside the rules of this website my friend.
None of what you're responding to are things I've said, and your evidence doesn't contradict what I said either - if you read it as we're supposed to be reading it in this forum.
But you keep doing whatever you're doing, I guess.
Just about all of that comment relates to something stated in this chain.
> Believe it or not, it’s actually possible to pay attention to two (or more!) things at once!
Here you're suggesting it's not a problem to mess with the stereo because you can multitask. This is directly against the quote from the NTSB, which relates you arguing:
> If by distracted you means ‘occasionally pokes it when necessary for comfort when it’s safe’, and ‘operates it as a normal human being’ (including tweaking a mirror when you notice it’s not where you want to be able to see, including gasp while driving when safe) then the NTSB, every state and federal government, and 99% of the driving public says yes. Including me.
The NTSB does not agree with you. They do not agree it's fine to adjust your stereo when you drive, they clearly state the opposite. They state you should only focus on driving. Not just that it should be your primary focus, but that it should be your sole focus. There's zero way you can read that as an endorsement from the NTSB that it's OK to adjust your stereo while moving, which you absolutely claim here.
Another part of the comment is based around the concept in that above quote that if the majority of the public (measured how? Who knows) thinks it's OK, then it's OK (99% if the driving public says yes). You're definitely making that argument there, that since 99% of people agree messing with the stereo while driving is acceptable then it is. I don't know where you're getting that 99% figure, as obviously the NTSB disagrees. I'm then pointing out that just because a ton of other drivers do some action or find it acceptable, it doesn't mean it's truly a safe thing to do. If you took a poll and 99% of drivers admitted to texting and driving, what would your position be?
Then finally I'm arguing against your statement of it being necessary to make changes to the center console. It's not necessary, I assure you that the car will continue driving down the highway regardless to however you configured your AC or if your radio is getting nothing but static. Making those adjustments are definitely not necessary to drive the car, which the NTSB says should be the sole focus. If you're needing to make center console adjustments so you can continue safely driving the car while it's in motion, you didn't fully configure your car before it started being in motion. I know it's not necessary, because I haven't touched my center console while the car is in motivation for many thousands of miles. And I routinely do hour+ long highway drives, so it's not like I'm stating this only driving short drives with lots of lights.
When I'm sitting at a stop light and want to change the music, I prefer a big touchscreen versus a single-row seven segment display, several knobs, and a bunch of dials.
When I'm wanting to quickly type an address I prefer a QUERTY keyboard on a touchscreen than a list of letters alphabetically and a wheel to scroll and select them.