Driving.

Over at the Sociological Images Tumblr, there's a little interview with Matt Richtel who asserts that "The #1 cause of traffic fatalities isn't texting, it's driving." This is a kind-of nuts way of looking at things, but it certainly caught my attention. A few students I've taught have been killed in texting-related accidents and I do my best not to check my phone while driving. And fines for handheld use in BC have recently increased. From all accounts, texting's a big deal.

Whenever there's something evidence-based that goes against my intuition, I try to learn a bit about it. And this one certainly works against my intuition. I mean, what's worse for driving than taking your eyes off the road to do something else? How could texting not have a significant affect on driving? Isn't the evidence clear?

Well, according to this guy, the evidence actually points in a different direction.

From Sociological Images.

Only the miles and drive-to-work rates were correlated with vehicle deaths. Mobile phone subscriptions had no effect at all.

So we're driving more, and that's ultimately what's causing the accidents. Distracted driving is certainly a problem, but the fact that we're driving more than we have before is what correlates with vehicle deaths. Here a visualization of the data from the article.

What does this mean for me? Nothing, really. What it means is that I don't need to feel so bad if I change songs on my phone while it's playing through the Bluetooth speakers in the car. If I behave in a safe manner, my distracted driving on my phone should cause an equivalent amount of distraction as eating a breakfast sandwich while driving.

The other thing I take from this is that I'm not the only person who's spending too much time in the car. I often feel some guilt about the amount of time I spend driving; however, it appears I'm not alone in my iniquity.