I owned two Miatas, a 1995 and a 2009. Great cars. Plus they come with two free OB/GYN appts and a life time supply of Midol.

I hope this is a typo.

Yea.....I'm fixing it now.

DOH!

Fyi - my anti-malware program fired off when I went to this URL

What I want to know is, why does it seem that drivers need to be doing something other than driving? What has happened to the attention span of most people?

Thanks for the heads-up.

I just tried with IE and Firefox and no alerts. Never heard of that before. Vimeo is not heavy on the advertising like YouTube but some ad could have triggered your malware.

Don't you know? Being able to "multi-task" is a sign of superiority.

My problem is that anything important enough to try to do while driving demands more attention than I can give it while I'm in the car. Heck, even when parked I tend to keep the phone calls short (and I use a Bluetooth speakerphone with voice dial) because I'm just not comfortable chatting with disembodied voices while sealed into a metal box. Pretty much everybody who calls me knows by now that they need to plan what they're going to say before they dial, because I will hang up on them if they start dragging out the conversation while I'm driving. (What's up with people calling and not having a clue what they need to say, anyway? I get a lot of calls at work that start out with, "Uh...hi...uh...this is _____ with _____...um...I was...um...")

I recently read a study that showed that "multitaskers" are deluding themselves if they believe they can efficiently perform more than one task simultaneously. The study found that almost always, both jobs are performed with much less accuracy and precision than when each activity was done alone. Ever wonder WHY there is so MUCH incompetance in the world? This is a BIG reason. Ironically, those who multitask believe that they can do it effectively. A review of their performance on multi-tasked activities was a huge suprise to these individuals when they saw how poor the results were.

It took a long time for my wife to realize this. She had a habit of reading the paper and watching tv at the same time. She only realized how badly she was comprehending when I started refusing to explain what was happening on a show, and started quizing her on current events.

My wife gets cranky with me when I'm driving us somewhere in somewhat heavy traffic on unfamiliar roads and I stop talking to her or start giving her 'terse' answers. I tell her that I need to pay attention when I'm driving so that I don't get in a car accident, and then she'll often say something thinly guised as humour such as 'driving is hard'. At which point I will often point out that she has been in three bad car accidents, two of which resulted in more than one car having to be written off- and that I've got a spotless driving record (not strictly true, I was in one car accident- but I was t-boned by an idiot running a red light cause she was talking on a cell phone, so that wasn't my fault). The conversation usually breaks down at that point, cause she'll claim she was just 'teasing' me and I over reacted (and I probably did, and she might've been, but she was also trying to make a snarky comment and get away with it), at which point I just completely ignore until the traffic relaxes, I figure out where I am, or we arrive at our destination. Either way- my point was- even when I have a passenger who can see the road conditions, she doesn't always recognize that the road situation is getting (or is about to become) complicated and I need my full attention.

But not in the way you might think. It shows superiority in that they feel that texting their friend about last night's TV show is more important than the lives of anyone else on the road. That's how superior they are.

Were you multitasking when you wrote this, or are you just a poor speller? ;) JK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incompetence

I'm glad to see someone else who feels this way. I don't drive much anymore, but have managed to offend a few people by handing the phone to a passenger when the call got to be too distracting to me while I was driving.

I was buzzed by, get this, a PRIUS this morning. So for all you prejudicial posters assuming SUV drivers are the only inconsiderate oafs out there, think again. I mean, seriously - a PRIUS?

^^^^^THIS!^^^^^We are all ambassadors, every single minute we are on the bike. Besides, it really pisses people off if you act like it doesn't affect you!

IMO, in order to multitask effectively, at least one task must be something you can literally do in your sleep, and the other must be a low-involvement task and/or one that tolerates frequent pauses. For example, my mom can knit and watch TV, and still catch everything on the show except the few seconds when she's finishing a row and starting the next one. I usually read a book or website while I'm sharpening knives, (I can't stand a dull knife, and prefer that even the paring knives be sharp enough to shave, so this tends to be at least a monthly activity.) but I stop reading when it's time to change stones, strop or test the edge.

Did you kick it out of your lane? :)

I'm wary of the Prius' because they're so quiet when in electric mode. At least I can hear an SUV coming.

Nothing's quiet on my route, because of the high speeds involved. Just tire noise is plenty to hear a car 200 feet behind me, far more for trucks with aggressive tread; I can hear their tire noise 1/2 mile back.

I don't rely on noise though, I have a mirror. I use both sound and sight.

I know there must be some nice normal people that drive SUVs but they are the vehicles that I most encounter problems with on my bike.
The other day my wife and I were riding our tandem and we were going down a steep long hill in a congested area which has a traffic signal at the bottom.
Its always a "white knuckle" ride.
We were probably doing 40 mph+ which I believe is above or close to the the speed limit and I was partly out in the lane in case somebody opened a door or pulled out from the curb.
So a speeding SUV pulls around us and passes probably going 50 mph and then we get to the signal which is green and the SUV is at a dead stop with no turn signal so I don't what they are doing and I have to slam on the brakes and then a car turning left at the intersection almost hits us. I usually don't confront motorists but I just lost it and yelled at this idiot.
Further down the road he catches up to us and says what did I do? Well you passed me when you didn't have to and then you stop at a green light forcing me to slam on my brakes and take evasive action. Need I say more?

I'm all for u-lock justice. I carry two u-locks a Kryptonite and a Masterlock. The Kryptonite is for close-combat when someone in a car chooses to stop for an extended yelling. Depending on the insinuations made upon my character, and the degree to which my mother is brought into it guides my decision making process when looking betwixt the mirror and the windshield. However, if they yell, or refuse to give me my three feet as mandated by the Mayor of Los Angeles I assume that I am legally bound to use my Masterlock for ranged combat. Atleast these are the things I dream about. In reality I cower in fear from SUV drivers.

I listen to music on my iTouch while I ride. While I know they occasional say things to me, I point to my ears and let them know I can't hear them. Also, I almost always waive at them and smile if I know they are trying to get my attention.

Ride safe,

Jeff

This mornings traffic concern? The woman in the SUV who made a right turn on red in front of me without looking before she turned right. I saw how intensely she was concentrating on her phone call and stayed way out of her way. I don't think she ever noticed me.

The same thing that happened to "safe following distance" and the "use of the turn signal..." they seem to have gone the way of "common sense" and flew the coop. Odd eh? Maybe the addition of the right hand mirror and the 3rd tail light were enough to warp all American drivers.

yeha people in SUVs and Vans are stoopid as excrement. Definitely can not drive at all. Atleast in Miami, Fl. To not be rude to people on this forums that own those types of automobiles.

I don't care what you drive or which way you wear your hat, that's funny stuff right there!