Riding in the rain will at times be necessary, and you should not stop riding just because it is raining. Relax and enjoy the ride. You are after all riding a motorcycle and that is fun. ENJOY IT! #autohumor
Numerous studies have indicated that more than any other factor, relatively low experience behind the wheel is the number one factor in calculating the risk of motor vehicle accidents.
Earning a driver’s license is a significant event for teens and parents, but being a novice driver carries many special risks. Teen drivers are the most endangered group of drivers on America’s roadways. Numerous studies have indicated that more than any other factor, relatively low experience behind the wheel is the number one factor in calculating the risk of motor vehicle accidents.
Naturally, these risks are multiplied when the novice driver at issue is a teenager, or young adult. On top of lacking experience, teen drivers have not reached important neurological milestones. Such milestones mark the complete development of certain brain structures that enhance self-control, and the regulation of emotion.
Most concerning, however, is along with their lack of experience – teens are missing key knowledge of various situations that commonly arise on the road. They lack what experts call ‘scripts,’ which allow them to know what tends to come next in certain situations, leaving them vulnerable while they hesitate to make a decision or worse- fail to realize that a decision needs to be made.
In the 1970’s, the Highway Safety Research Center created a graduated driver licensing (GDL) system — an approach that adjusts for different learning curves. Teen drivers must at first drive with supervision. Later, they can drive alone, without an adult, but must obey specific driving curfews. The concept was adopted in many areas throughout the U.S., Canada, and Australia.
“After the GDL programs went into effect,” Arthur Goodwin, Senior Research Associate, Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina said, “We saw a 34% decline in crash rates among 16-year-old drivers and a 13% drop in crash rates for 17-year-olds. Most of the time, if we impose a traffic safety program and you are able to reduce crashes by just 2 or 3 percent, it is considered a smashing success. So, naturally, if you see crashes drop by so much as 30 something percent it is outstanding!”
“We had finally tuned our licensing programs to comply with the fact that in order to learn something as complicated as driving a motor vehicle you will need sufficient time to learn to do it. You do not learn by being lectured, you don’t learn by being preached at or threatened with demerits – people learn by doing,” Robert D. Foss, Ph.D., Director, Center for the Study of Young Drivers, Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina.
“Beyond GDLs, we can’t point to any other thing that is effective for reducing teen driver crashes,” said Goodwin, “Many things are being tried and tested, but we haven’t managed to find any great intervention other than graduated licensing.”
CDC reports conclude that 7 teen deaths occur each day from automobile collisions.
“Sadly, there is a trade-off between mobility and safety,” said Arthur Goodwin, M.A., of the Highway Safety and Research Center. “[…] many of today’s teens are now becoming increasingly independent and they need a car for school or work, and parents are often eager to get help with driving duties.”
Foss says, “Experience is a tremendous issue. We recently held a workshop to explore the issue of the sharp decline in crashes as experience increases. We found that whether people start driving when they’re 15, 17, 20, or 45 – you see crashes in the first month, fewer in the second and third. It drops down very steeply over the first six to twelve months.” (4)
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You’ve probably already seen the anti-texting commercials and billboards popping up everywhere. You’ve probably even been lectured by your parents, spouse, or friends for texting and driving. While we all know this is good advice, it doesn’t stop us from going into our phone and checking our messages and emails, or answering phone calls.
It’s difficult to imagine you’re putting yourself into danger because nothing has happened to you yet. As a multitasker, you believe that sending a text, changing the radio station, and driving makes you a skilled driver. You’re soon going to find out distracted driving is never a good idea.
Although it is illegal to text and drive in 46 states there are still drivers on the road who are texting while operating a motor vehicle. In a 2014 study by AT&T and the University Of Connecticut School Of Medicine, 90% of survey participants admitted to texting while driving even though they knew the possible consequences. Nearly ¾ also disclosed that they have looked at their cell phones while driving.
According to Dr. David Greenfield, who conducted the 2014 study, we are all addicted to our cell phones. We constantly tell ourselves that just one text won’t be dangerous even know we are very well aware that it is. That one “quick” glance we all convince ourselves we are doing caused 26% car accidents in 2012. They were all caused by distracted driving.
Dr. Greenfield explained that our texting and driving habits may be caused by the fact that our bodies release Dopamine when we take part in a dangerous activity. This is the same neurochemical that is released when we experience positive feedback as well as when we drink alcohol, use drugs, or speed on the highway and get away with it. We easily talk ourselves into speeding because we are late and all of the other cars are doing it anyway. We drink a little too much then get behind the wheel thinking there’s just no possibility we’d ever get caught drinking and driving. Everyone doubts they’ll ever become a statistic until the unexpected happens. Unfortunately, these types of behavior can cause car accidents, injury, and even death.
When these type of cases go to court both the city and the state have to prove that the driver was being negligent in a way that endangered property and people. Phone providers are required to turn over records when served a subpoena. That means that the City and State can get proof if you were texting while driving, and therefore, being negligent.
If you are caught texting and driving in one of the states where it is illegal, you will be given a traffic ticket, including at stoplights. To avoid this type of traffic infraction you should put your phone away while driving and if you need to send a text, turn on the GPS, or make a phone call you can always pull over and do so. The only time using your phone is allowed while driving is if you’re calling the authorities.
If you get a traffic ticket for texting while driving you will not only have to pay the ticket, you’ll get points on your license and also have to pay higher insurance costs. If you’re driving a commercial vehicle while texting, your consequences will be even worse because it is considered a major and serious moving offense.
By being a safe driver, you avoid traffic infractions entirely and can minimize the possibility of accidents, both which help minimize insurance premiums. Taking an online defensive driving course can also help you become a better driver and get additional insurance discounts. If you’ve already received a traffic infraction, depending on your state, you may be able to avoid getting points on your license by taking a traffic school course.
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According to a study entitled “The Attentional Cost of Receiving a Cell Notification” by Florida State University researchers, receiving a cellphone notification (a ringtone, alarm bell or quiet vibration) causes distraction that affects your performance on attention-demanding tasks. Published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human perception and Performance, the study reveals that the distraction caused by a mere cellular phone notification is so effectual that it is similar to that of an individual using their cell phone to send texts or make calls.
Cary Stothart, a psychology doctoral student, is the study’s lead author. His co-authors are Ainsley Mitchum, former Florida University postdoctoral searcher; and Courtney Yehnert, an FSU research director. Yehnert, who was working on the research project as an undergraduate learner graduated from the university in 2014. The FSU study is the first to investigate the impacts of cell phone notifications and alerts on the ability of individuals to focus on a particular task.
Commenting on the on the study, Yehnert said that the degree to which simple notifications distracted a person and impaired their ability to remain focused on a task was “really shocking.”
The researchers wrote in the study report that while the cell phone notifications are usually short in duration, they have the potential to cause mind-wandering or distractive thoughts, which is associated with lower task performance. The authors note that in particular, cellular phone alerts significantly reduce performance on attention-demanding work, adding that this is so even if the persons “do not directly interact with a mobile device during the task.”
According to the researchers, people’s attention capacity is limited. When one uses their mobile phone when working on a task, their attention is split between using the cellular device and completing the job. The FSU investigators explain that it is this splitting of an already limited attention capacity that leads to poor task performance. Even the mere knowledge that one has a missed call or text has the same effect as using a cell phone while working, explain the researchers.
These findings are important, especially considering that majority of public information drives seeking to discourage risky cell phone usage (for example calling or texting while driving) advise users to wait to answer calls or return messages. According to the study, even waiting can have the same distractive effects as calling or texting. Simply looking forward to responding to a message or call has enough distraction to impair performance on another activity.
The FSU researchers conducted their research by comparing the participants’ performance on an attention-demanding computer task, divided into two parts. In the first part, the study participants were simply assigned the computer task. In the second part, the researchers divided the participants into three groups: text, call or notification. The researchers sent automated calls and texts to the first two groups. The participants did not know that the notifications came from the researchers.
The scholars established that there were more mistakes in the case of participants who received notifications to their cellular phones than those who did not. Those that received the notifications were three times as likely to make mistakes as those who did not. Participants who received text alerts performed better than their counterparts who got call notifications.
After comparing their study findings with other researchers’ work that investigated how using cellular phones affected performance, the FSU investigators established that their findings corroborated those of other studies. The similarity of the results suggested that the effects of receiving a notification and failing to respond, and actually replying to a text or answering a call were the same.
These findings apply to driving, although the researchers did not investigate the effects of cellular notifications on driving. Commenting on this aspect, Stothart said that the findings suggest that when driving, drivers should mute or turn off their cellular phones, and keep them out of sight.
To follow up on this research, the researchers plan to conduct another study to investigate the effects of notifications on task performance, when the participant is taking a simulated driving test.
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