{"433131":{"#nid":"433131","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"Rosenberger on Driving While Distracted","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/rosenberger\u0022\u003ERobert Rosenberger\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the \u003Cstrong\u003ESchool of Public Policy\u003C\/strong\u003E, discussed the phenomenon of driving while distracted with \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/parenting\/parents-of-13-year-old-killed-in-car-crash-share-126031818442.html\u0022\u003EYahoo! Parenting\u003C\/a\u003E. Drivers are increasingly aware of the dangers of texting and driving; however, not everyone realizes how dangerous it can be to drive while performing a secondary task such as eating a sandwich, talking on the phone, or checking the GPS.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe reality is that drivers are not really good at knowing how distracted they are,\u201d he tells Yahoo Parenting. \u201cIt\u2019s very normal for drivers to be overconfident about how they are able to handle driving distractions. One government survey found that most people think other people are bad at driving while talking on the phone or texting, but also everybody thinks that they are the exception to the rule. So it\u2019s not that people don\u2019t know it can be distracting to do these things behind the wheel, but that people think those statistics don\u2019t apply to them.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis debate has been triggered by a recent accident where a forty-year-old driver crashed into a brother and sister on a Michigan freeway, killing the thirteen-year-old boy and injuring the sixteen-year-old, who was driving. The driver told the police that he had been checking his GPS and eating a sandwich and didn\u2019t notice that the traffic had stopped in front of him.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhat can be done? Some argue that the goal should be changing people\u2019s mindsets rather than stricter driving laws. Rosenberger argues that both are important.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe law is always going to be so far behind the advancing technology, so we need a cultural shift,\u201d he says. \u201cDrunk driving, through the efforts of activist groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is generally accepted as a bad thing to do. That\u2019s not to say it doesn\u2019t happen, but people know that it\u2019s not OK. That\u2019s what we need with distracted driving. Right now it\u2019s seen as something normal \u2014 it needs to be one of those things where, if someone receives a call from someone they know is driving, they don\u2019t pick up. Or, if we\u2019re the passenger, we won\u2019t let the person driving have their phone.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnfortunately, Rosenberger says, much of society is moving in the opposite direction. \u201cThese days, companies market their cars as infotainment systems,\u201d he says. \u201cWe think of driving as not just a task we\u2019re trying to get done responsibly, but we believe the car is a mobile workplace where we have to get other stuff done while we\u2019re sitting and wasting time.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERosenberger says all drivers need to remember one thing: Any of us could be that person checking the GPS and eating lunch. \u201cWe all should feel like that could happen to us,\u201d he says. \u201cWe all should feel like we could be that driver.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/parenting\/parents-of-13-year-old-killed-in-car-crash-share-126031818442.html\u0022\u003EContinue to full article\u2026\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/rosenberger\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ERobert Rosenberger\u2019s\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E research at Georgia Tech focuses on the analysis of the ways technologies are wrapped up in contexts of conceptualization, use, and bodily habit.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27498","created_gmt":"2015-08-11 11:15:16","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 02:27:38","author":"Rachel Miles","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"Tommy Little","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/parenting\/parents-of-13-year-old-killed-in-car-crash-share-126031818442.html","dateline":{"date":"2015-08-06T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-08-06T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"405881":{"id":"405881","type":"image","title":"Robert Rosenberger","body":null,"created":"1449254153","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:35:53","changed":"1539181769","gmt_changed":"2018-10-10 14:29:29","alt":"Photo portrait of School of Public Policy professor Robert Rosenberger","file":{"fid":"76113","name":"robertrosenbergerweb.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/robertrosenbergerweb.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/robertrosenbergerweb.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":40625,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/robertrosenbergerweb.jpg?itok=TiXirV-U"}}},"media_ids":["405881"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1289","name":"School of Public Policy"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"167090","name":"SPP"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}