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.
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AFAIK there is zero evidence that a radio or audio book will distract a driver anywhere near enough to cause any sort of hazard. I'm not even sure why anyone would criticize that behavior, though I do concur that (if it matters) your overall listening comprehension will be slightly lower when driving than if you were sitting at home and doing nothing but listening to the audio book.
However, I really have no doubt that reading a book, talking on a cell phone, or texting while driving are far too distracting to be safe. Until Google gets its
self-driving car system out of beta, there is no excuse for that driver to be reading and talking on the cell phone while driving. People are also terrible judges of their own abilities, and faith in their ability to multitask is misplaced.
As such, I really have no problem "telling people what to do" while driving, if and when their actions make the road unsafe.