Think you can drive and use a cell phone at the same time?

www.dft.gov.uk...

Interesting little test here (which I failed, quite spectaculaly) Testing your conentratuion levels whilst driving and using a phone. It's a simple test. You just have to hit the space bar, and count.


edit- no, that was a picture of a spider.....


[edit on 19/5/2009 by Acidtastic]

How is answering a question like hitting the space bar? The test seems more like trying to take notes and drive rather than have a conversation and drive.

Are people not to speak to each other when in the same car as well?

I'm going to punch you in the face while you ride a bike. If you cant ride a straight line for 50 yards you obviously shouldnt be allowed to speak while driving.

I dont have any sound on my work PC so the test will have to wait though I still dont know what hitting a space bar has in common with a conversation.

*ring, ring* me:Hello. her: are you on your way home? me: yup. her: can you get a gallon of milk on the way? me: sure. her: alright, see you soon. me: bye.

Somewhere in there I'm supposed to plow into a station wagon full of kids? Are my eyes not on the road? Are my hands not on the wheel?

Most people are idiots. Idiots and terrible drivers playing with radios, putting on makeup, digging in the back seat for a CD, driving too fast for conditions, etc... and no law is going to change that. I'm more than a little tired of having the grand stupidity of the masses interfere with my life.

I am pretty sure I can drive and talk on a cell phone at the same time. I do it all the time. I am magic. I can talk on the cell phone, eat, hold a soda between my legs and drive with my knees. Who cant?

edit- this is in reply to thisguyrighthere

you have to hit the space bar when you're asked a question. And you also have to count the people in red, and yellow shirts. (red = 2 and yellow =1) you have to add it up as you go along.

It's about concentration. If you're listening to what someone on the phone is saying, whilst trying to pay attention to what's around you, your concentration levels go way down.

[edit on 19/5/2009 by Acidtastic]

reply to post by Acidtastic


It doesnt take maximum levels of human concentration for the average person to drive a car.

This test is such bogus garbage. There is a huge difference between stopping at red lights and stop signs and avoiding hitting anything versus counting the number of colored shirts in front of you.

Not to mention hitting a space bar is nothing like speaking on the phone. Most people can drive while talking on the phone, its the dialing and text messaging thats hard.

Im probably the target market for this advert as I normally smoke and talk on the mobile when driving however this is a test that if done properly is nothing like driving on the phone, clicking a spacebar and counting just like driving. P.s I have driven while on the mobile without handsfree for 6 years and have never crashed and run someone down so get it up you nanny state

I drive and talk on the phone at the same time all the time.

Originally posted by Acidtastic
edit- this is in reply to thisguyrighthere
It's about concentration. If you're listening to what someone on the phone is saying, whilst trying to pay attention to what's around you, your concentration levels go way down.

[edit on 19/5/2009 by Acidtastic]

Maybe I'm a bad listener or maybe listening for some people is an incredibly difficult task?

The test is more of a lesson staring at pedestrians. Behingd the wheel of a car is not the best time to be "people watching."

How ludicrous. I’m not advocating talking while driving, but this comes nowhere near simulating talking on the phone while driving. I wonder how much money the government spent on this stupid campaign?

reply to post by thisguyrighthere

You'll have to try it with sound. It's not talking and driving but a decent facsimile of it. There was something I missed even though I knew something was wrong.

I try and not talk in the car but occasionally it happens. When it does, I keep it very short, as short as possible. I know I can't talk and drive so I keep it to a bare minimum.

I fully agree that it doesn't simulate driving in any way shape or form. I just found it interesting (and slightly amusing)that I failed so hard (I mean, I guessed the number bit cos I lost count, and was about double the actual score, but still...) It's more or a concentration thing. Not a driving thing.

I couldn't count those tshirts even if I WASN'T DRIVING

Plus I forgot what I was supposed to do with the space bar.

so I missed all the questions lol

But I need a nap so I almost fell asleep at the wheel.

[edit on 023131p://bTuesday2009 by Stormdancer777]

Originally posted by Acidtastic
I fully agree that it doesn't simulate driving in any way shape or form. I just found it interesting (and slightly amusing)that I failed so hard (I mean, I guessed the number bit cos I lost count, and was about double the actual score, but still...) It's more or a concentration thing. Not a driving thing.

exactly it doesn't simulate driving

Hi, prudent drivers.

I HOPE sooooo much that it gets ILLEGAL to phone in a moving car and driving ! ! !

I almost got my car scraped by a st#p#d driver-talking-at-the-phone ! !

He did see us JUST in time ! He slamed the brakes, made 4 tire marks
on the road, as his car swayed and did almost a 180* behind us, waiting
on a red light ! !

Blue skies.

I can use a cell phone while driving but I hate to. I'd rather pull off to talk or wait until I'm out of the car. I've been the victim in way too many car accidents. I pay attention not only to what I'm doing while driving, but even more to what everyone else is doing. Too many drivers these days are nutzoid.

This is going to help cause there's a time where you must press the space bar in your car WHILE you talk to your wife/husband AND count the unimaginable amount of pedestrians crossing the road on a tiny street.

OH YOU FAILED.
sorry now you can't do that while talking. Is that ok? Lol.

This is my biggest pet peeve. I cannot stand people who use a cell phone while driving. I cannot tell you how many idiots have almost wiped me out here in Louisville KY because they simply cannot survive without chit chatting on the cell.

This activity should be illegal world wide.

Anyway, I clicked the link but it did not work for me. I wanted to see how I would fare!

This test has nothing to do with "driving" for all those saying its useless. The test is demonstrating to all of you that failed (and presumably all those complaining) that you cannot multitask whilst concentrating on a conversation whilst attempting a second task simultaneously. The only reason its been designed with a video of a vehicle driving down the street is to associate it with that task in particular; its more about symbolising the act of driving than actually doing it.

reply to post by C-JEAN


Sorry to break it to you but no law is going to stop people from using their phones while driving. If laws worked drunks would drive, murders wouldnt happen and crackheads wouldnt be crapping in the bus stop.

Assuming you'll be safer because some act is made illegal is ignorance at its finest.