Comments on: Stop Start Cars http://www.sciscoop.com/2006-6-13-94131-5815.html Scooping up the latest science news and controversies Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:44:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: phred14 http://www.sciscoop.com/2006-6-13-94131-5815.html/comment-page-1#comment-2604 phred14 Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:42:30 +0000 http://localhost/~arielschwartz/wordpress/sciscoop/?p=2845#comment-2604 I've had an in-car alarm available for over 30 years, since I was 16 and started driving. It's called my mother, and it doesn't matter that I'm over 50 and a never-accident driver. When visiting and she rides with me, her foot tries to push through the floorboard and there's the occasional, "Oh-my-gosh!!!"<p> On a more serious and relevant note, this is relevant. About a year back was when she did her last big, "Oh-my-gosh!!!" It was for a situation that I'd already noted many seconds before, set a strategy for handling, and moved on. But her ALARM! then distracts me from the current situation, whatever it is, and makes me start searching for the cause of the ALARM! In that case, the ALARM! was over an old threat, well averted.<p> Had the ALARM! been during a situation critical for other reasons, it might have been sufficient distraction to cause a crash.<p> To put it more simply, in addition to being early, an in-car alarm needs to be fairly specific, and not just "Oh-my-gosh!!!" I’ve had an in-car alarm available for over 30 years, since I was 16 and started driving. It’s called my mother, and it doesn’t matter that I’m over 50 and a never-accident driver. When visiting and she rides with me, her foot tries to push through the floorboard and there’s the occasional, “Oh-my-gosh!!!”

On a more serious and relevant note, this is relevant. About a year back was when she did her last big, “Oh-my-gosh!!!” It was for a situation that I’d already noted many seconds before, set a strategy for handling, and moved on. But her ALARM! then distracts me from the current situation, whatever it is, and makes me start searching for the cause of the ALARM! In that case, the ALARM! was over an old threat, well averted.

Had the ALARM! been during a situation critical for other reasons, it might have been sufficient distraction to cause a crash.

To put it more simply, in addition to being early, an in-car alarm needs to be fairly specific, and not just “Oh-my-gosh!!!”

]]> By: http://www.sciscoop.com/2006-6-13-94131-5815.html/comment-page-1#comment-1657 Tue, 13 Jun 2006 09:42:51 +0000 http://localhost/~arielschwartz/wordpress/sciscoop/?p=2845#comment-1657 Why not just have the car apply the brakes automatically rather than sound an alarm, that precludes driver error, surely? Why not just have the car apply the brakes automatically rather than sound an alarm, that precludes driver error, surely?

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