Quote:
Originally Posted by Worldwalker
Dealing with hazards is not luck; it's training and experience.
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I couldn't agree with you more ! Every driver should take a course about hazard perception and reaction, so they learn to look at the solution instead of the problem when something happens on the road. And so they learn the techniques that will allow them they stay in control of their car when they have to perform a sudden manoeuvre whilst driving.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Worldwalker
But in my personal experience, which I have more of than the average person, just as I have less experience in other fields, I have found that having some source of external stimulus enhances safety by preventing the otherwise inevitable "zoning out" which occurs in long or familiar routes.
In short: boredom is not conducive to alertness, and when one's only source of input is an endless white line, it is inevitable.
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This is called
Driving Without Awareness. The research about DWA is quite extensive. Some people have even described it in this thread: it's driving on autopilot, where all of the sudden you "wake up" and can't remember how you got there. It's something professional drivers have to deal with every day, especially when driving on the highway. If listening to an audiobook prevents zoning out, then that's what that driver should do !
In the end it's all about experience. A young and inexperienced driver should turn off the radio when he's driving, because the driving task itself still takes up so much of his concentration. Performing (simple) secondary tasks (like listening to the radio, adjusting the air conditioning, talking to a passenger, ...) when you just got your license is a recipe for disaster. But a more experienced driver is capable of driving whilst listening to the radio, and still react properly to risky situations when they occur.
But absolutely no-one is able to read a book and drive at the same time !