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Driver Distractions They Can't Ban
When the traffic safety boffins talk about driver distraction, they’re usually talking about the perils of texting while driving. And they’re pretty much right. I guess we’ve all seen people having near misses because they’ve had their eyes on the phone rather than on the road. Saw one on a main road the other day just about crossing the centre line and frantically correcting before having a close encounter with an oncoming car.
However, I had done something similar a few days previously. Not because I was trying to text and drive, though. I got distracted (and nearly crossed the centre line, etc.) thanks to suddenly spotting a spider that looked like one of the nasty ones crawling around on the sweatshirt sitting on top of the centre console beside me and I was trying to squash it. Now, they may be able to outlaw texting while driving but that’s one thing that they can’t outlaw easily (“Excuse me, madam; we’ve just got to check your car for deadly spiders.”)
It also got me thinking about other things that can distract drivers but can’t be cracked down on in the same way that using phones and texting can. I mean, anything can pull a driver’s attention away at a crucial moment. Here are my top five driver distractors (that don’t include things you choose to do like check makeup or eat):
- Children in the car. Some children just do not grasp the idea that even though Mummy is sitting down and looking relaxed when she is driving, she cannot look at the lovely picture you drew, open your drink bottle or put your shoe back on. Babies are the worst offenders because they don’t understand and can start to scream, especially if Mummy is nowhere to be seen. The safety experts who say that children nine months old (the age where they go through major separation anxiety) should be in the back seat facing backwards need a reality check – a distressed child makes for a stressed driver.
- Sound systems. Steering wheel-mounted audio controls for advancing, repeating and adjusting the volume are all very well. However, fine-tuning the balance between bass, treble, left and right and so forth is a bit more fiddly. Changing CD doubly so.
- Advertisements. They say it’s more of a guy thing, but those ads showing bikini babes that are designed to catch the attention are put beside the road where people driving will see them. Tell me, guys, which would you rather look at? The road in front of you or a seriously photoshopped woman without a lot of clothing? Bit of a no-brainer in more ways than one.
- Anything that insists on giving you instructions while you’re negotiating tricky traffic. This can include a navigation system or a passenger with a map. At least you can tell the passenger to shut up while keeping your hands on the wheel.
- Any type of animal in the car, especially the smaller ones that have more than four legs and bite, such as wasps, spiders, bees and mosquitos. They might be able to come in the window but can they find their way out again?
They have come up with devices in some new safety conscious cars (such as the new Volvos that shut down the radio and the phone when the car detects that you’re driving a bit more hectically and possibly need the distractions to a minimum. If only they could do something about the Top Five as well – although a good set of lungs can deal with #1: “SHUT UP! It’s busy here and I can’t pay attention right now, OK???!!”
Beyond the Sticker Price
When it comes to new car ownership, the cost of owning the car for the first few years is a significant factor worth considering before you hand over the money. Running costs from one car to another can differ dramatically. Costs like the replacement of parts, tyres, oil filters, fuel and even registration all factor into the equation that reveals how costly it’s going to be to run your dream car over time. For 2013, Australia’s cheapest car to own and run is the new Suzuki Alto. The car looks pretty cool and, for the second year running, has come out as the clear winner in a survey of Australia’s most economical vehicles.
Obviously, if you’ve seen a Suzuki Alto, you already know the car is small. It looks cute and is powered by a zippy little 1.0-litre petrol engine. No surprises then that the Suzuki Alto finished ahead of 109 other vehicles and was found in the Light Car class.
Owners of a Holden Cruze Equipe , Volkswagen Jetta 118 TSI, Audi A4 1.8-litre Turbo, Holden VF Evoke LPG, Nissan Dualis ST , Hyundai Santa Fe Active or Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo should also be very pleased with their cars. According to the survey, these cars came up as the least expensive cars in their class to own. Now, did I notice the Toyota’s name in the list? Australia’s top seller wasn’t a feature, I’m afraid!
Interestingly, LPGs, hybrids and EVs were also included in the car survey and all vehicles were checked for their affordability during the first five years of ownership. Things like purchase price, fuel use, servicing and depreciation featured among the factors that added to the cost of owning the cars.
Now who reckons hybrids ought to be a cheap vehicle to run. Rather amusingly, the Honda Jazz Hybrid 1.3-litre was the most expensive car to own in the light car class. In the small car class, the Honda Civic Hybrid 1.5-litre was the most expensive car to own. This survey made for some hard reading if you happened to be the owner of a Mazda6 Touring (hey, that’s what my brother-in-law drives), Mercedes Benz C200 , Ford FG Falcon XT MK2 (my next-door neighbour’s latest new toy), Mazda CX-5 , Toyota Kluger or the new Nissan Patrol . These were the most expensive cars to own in their respective classes.
According to the RACQ Vehicle Running Costs survey, the hidden costs of vehicle ownership meant motorists were paying a lot more than they needed to when purchasing a brand new car. RACQ’s safety policy executive manager, Steve Spalding, said that “The real cost of owning a car is much more than just the sticker price and the wrong choice could set you back thousands. Servicing, fuel consumption, spare parts, insurance and depreciation play a major role in how much a financial burden your vehicle will be.”
Now that’s got you thinking!
Take a look at the RACQ website page if you want to know how they figured it all out: http://www.racq.com.au/motoring/cars/car_economy/vehicle_running_costs_2013
The Lion Roars: Holden VF Ute Sets Nürburgring Record
When reviewers want to say that a vehicle handles well, they often mention how the designers did the testing at the Nürburgring. The “Ring” is considered to be one of the most demanding and difficult race courses in the world, and to get around the track in one piece is a sign of a good car and/or a good driver.
Not many utes have been tested at the Nürburgring. This is partly because these aren’t common vehicles over in Europe (which raises the question about what tradespeople use to haul their gear around – do they all use lorries and vans? And does every single farmer in the European Union use 4×4 motorbikes and tractors to do the rounds?). But back in February this year, when the design team at Holden were just putting the finishing touches on the new Holden VF Commodore, they decided to put the ute through its paces on the (in)famous Nürburgring.
Only two utes had been put through their paces at the Nürburgring before: the Dodge Ram SRT rigged up with the 8.0-litre V10 engine from the Viper, and the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor with a supercharged 6.2-litre V8. It was rather lucky for Holden that a VF Commodore was in Europe already when they had this bright idea: a pre-production model was undergoing a bit of testing in Spain. Time was short: this model would either have to be crushed in Spain or sent back home to Australia within six weeks.
There was no time to book a famous professional racing driver. Instead, the best driver they had on hand was Rob Trubiani, a member of the chassis design team who had been on hand for the testing in Spain, which included calibrating and fine-tuning the ESP. Trubiani was not and is not a racing driver, but he was a certified Nürburgring test driver. After all, what better way to ensure that the chassis you’ve designed works brilliantly than to see how it goes through the Nürburgring?
The team at Holden selected ANZAC Day (Australian time) as the day to put the Holden VF Commodore SS-V Redline Ute against the clock. However, they managed to get it out onto the track in the hands of Rob Trubiani before then, as the track had some of their industry pool days on (days when the track circuit is kept for manufacturers to test cars on). This nearly spelled disaster, as the Holden had a close brush with an Audi that sent the ute off the track onto the dirt at the exit. But what’s a bit of dirt to a ute? Even with this close call, the Holden still managed to do the track in under the 8 mins 40 seconds Trubiani thought it capable of doing.
ANZAC Day dawned in Australia as Trubiani lined the Holden VF Commodore Ute up ready to go. The ride is better seen than merely described, which readers can do at this link, complete with Rob Trubiani providing the commentary on his drive. He gets airborne at one part and dodges debris from a prototype Jaguar that exploded during the industry pool days, but still picks up a time of 8:19:47. And now, the Holden can proudly claim that it’s the fastest time for a ute to complete the Nürburgring. Sure, “utes, pickups and commercial vehicles” is a new category for the Ring, but a record is a record!
To quote Shakespeare, “Well roared, lion!”
The Downside of Driver Convenience Aids
I’m constantly amazed at how smart cars are becoming. To put this another way, every year seems to bring a new set of sensors or cameras to make driving easier and/or safer. Ten years ago, rear parking sensors were the new gadget to improve safety. And there’s no doubt that this has reduced the risk of driveway tragedies where little kids haven’t realised that Mum or Dad are backing the car out and… And it’s probably saved a few bent bumpers or so. Now, of course, rear parking assistance is pretty old hat and nearly every new car has this feature. Now, there are rear cameras, front parking assistance, sensors to the side, sensors that detect a change in your driving style and either cut out the distractions like the phone and the audio if the car “thinks” that things are getting tricky or else flashes and beeps at you to tell you to wake up if it thinks you’re daydreaming or falling asleep (the latter is found in the new Mercedes E-class models, for example).
There’s no doubt that smart cars make driving safer. However, there is a downside to them. We could easily become dependent on them. Possibly, we could depend on them to the extent that we become less alert drivers or less skilled drivers. Why should we get into the habit of looking out behind us when we back if there’s a beeping sensor to warn us of approaching obstacles? Why should we check to the side if the car has a sensor? This will mean that we stop developing our “situational awareness”.
Situational awareness is one of the most important factors when it comes to safety systems in the air. Pilots have gadgets that fly the plane for them (autopilot) but even when the autopilot is taking care of things, pilots still have to have good situational awareness and be constantly alter to what’s going on in the air around them. Yes, flying a plane is trickier than driving a car (even though you can get your private pilot’s licence before you can get your car driver’s licence) and there is a third dimension to deal with. But the air is considerably less crowded than the roads and pilots have radios and radars to talk to other pilots coming towards them, and can get told about congestion up ahead by the control towers. Drivers don’t have friendly ACTs (air traffic controllers) keeping a lookout at areas of potential congestion – a sat-nav package or access to an online webcam that shows congestion is probably the best you can get. Even so, pilots still have to have their situational awareness up to full every time they’re in the cockpit.
And here’s the rub: pilots never learn to fly on planes that have autopilot. Instead, they learn on basic little things where you have to do it all yourself. However, people can learn to drive on cars with all the driver convenience gadgets.
Imagine that you’re a teenager learning to drive in the family car, as most of us do. Earlier, Mum and Dad picked a car that had all the safety features to keep all the kids safe. You’re going to learn how to drive on something that could have front and rear parking sensors and maybe a camera. All well and good. You get your licence, and later, you leave home and you decide to pick up a set of wheels of your very own. The sort of thing you can afford for a first car isn’t going to have all the newest driver aids. We all know what the typical “student car” is like. The most you’re likely to have will be power steering, automatic windows and automatic transmission (like the mid-80s BMW 3-series we sold a couple of years back to a polytech student). If you’re really lucky, it will have cruise control or even steering wheel-mounted audio controls. But you’re going to have to parallel park and back down driveways all the same… but you’ve never learned how to do this without electronic assistance.
So while all the driver convenience aids are very helpful, I have one real concern. Are we going to end up with a generation of drivers who don’t know how to drive without sensors all over the place? Won’t this have us ending up with less skilled drivers on the roads? Will we get drivers who are so used to getting information about their surroundings from the display screen in the dashboard that they don’t look out the window or use the mirrors? Because those awareness aids only work when the ignition is on – when you’ve turned the engine off and are about to get out of the car, the car won’t tell you about the approaching cyclist you’re about to knock to Kingdom Come with the door.
My teenage son is months away from being old enough to get his learner’s licence. I’m going to insist that he does at least some of his learning in the old warhorse of a Nissan that my husband uses for his contractor work, which has power steering and that’s about it, so he knows how to drive something basic and bog-standard – a dumb car rather than smart car, so he ends up a smart driver rather than a dumb one. I hope other parents will do the same.
Level 2, 9 Help Street