Habituation, Liberty and the Pursuit of Safety
Are you really a passenger?
It’s not your fault.
Admit it. You’ve pressed it while driving. We’ve all done it.
Pressing the “I’m a Passenger” button may start out as a blatant lie, but over time becomes hardwired into our brains. Why? Because we’re creatures of habit, literally.
Habituation is a form of learning in which we decrease or cease to respond to a stimulus after repeated presentations.
So, when you press the “I’m a Passenger” button while driving and manage not to crash your car the first few times, this behavior becomes automatic.
Let’s get the serious stuff out of the way.
The average text message takes 4.6 seconds. At 60 mph, it’s like driving the length of a football field (and then some) with your eyes closed.
In 2014, the Department of Transportation (DoT) reported that mobile phones were involved in 1.6 million automobile-related accidents annually — which caused 500,000 injuries and lead to 6,000 deaths each year (reference).
The DoT has previously recognized your mobile device as a driving hazard and, in 2012, proposed “distraction” guidelines, among them:
- Reduce complexity and task length required by the device;
- “Limit individual off-road glances required for device operation to no more than two seconds in duration.”
The DoT also recommended disabling many operations for active drivers, suggesting that passengers or parked drivers perform anything more than simple tasks.
It’s your choice, right?
Liberty is one of our unalienable rights as stated in the Declaration of Independence — the freedom to make choices and take risks based on perceived consequences.
Unfortunately, another piece of psychology comes into play when it comes to risks and perceived consequences: illusory superiority.
Jerry Seinfeld expressed it well with this bit…
Did you ever see a guy, out on the highway, moving a mattress tied to the roof of the car?
Without fail, he’s got the arm out of the window holding the mattress.
This is classic male idiot super-hero thinking.
This moron believes that if the wind catches this huge rectangle at 70 mph…
“I got it! I got it!”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m using my arm!”
And, this feedback from a Waze user further illuminates our general attitude…
“Please remove the stupidly redundant “Oh no, you’re driving” crap, forcing me to be further distracted while having to click Passenger before I can post. We’re adults, so if you’re going to shove this down our throats, at least give us the option somewhere to NEVER have to press passenger again. Hell, make it a Terms and Conditions check box, an option in the menu threatening death and brimstone if we type while driving, I don’t care… what I don’t need is something frustrating getting into the way of my attempts to help others.”
But here’s the bottom line — when you endanger the lives of others, it’s no longer a matter of liberty.
Regulations and “CAPTDPA”
At some point, more strict regulations will come. And these regulations will need to address natural biases like habituation and illusory superiority.
If you’re not familiar with the term CAPTCHA (an acronym for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”), you’ve likely dealt with the little image of numbers and text that you type in to finish a form. This feature is included to tell computers and humans apart and to prevent fraud.
CAPTDPA, we propose, would be a test that tells drivers and passengers apart. This would require a simple test that can only be safely accomplished by a passenger, or the corollary, that drivers would find prohibitive.
Consider a simple CAPTDPA test. Three dots are presented randomly in succession, a few seconds apart, and only for a brief moment consistent with Fitt’s Law. The passenger would be required to tap each dot before it disappeared in order to proceed.
This scheme among others, could be easily implemented.
Unfortunately, the reality is that companies would risk a backlash from and loss of angry users like the Wazer noted above.
At Otto Radio…
Our top priority (and challenge) has been to provide listeners with the safest experience possible while still providing access to timely features.
Auto-curated broadcasts, voice commands, and delayed story sharing are a few of the safety features we’ve implemented. And we’ve tucked the management features away behind a “stern” warning from Officer Otto.
Perhaps when more strict regulations come, we’ll be able to try out some new ideas to keep you safe and sound.
Until that time, we’ll just have to take your word for it ;)
Drive safely and happy trails!
