3 ms·
It's not even about deskilling. I raced road bikes for years and in large part drive like I rode: highly defensive (bordering on aggressive as I've been lectur
by patcheudor 9y ago
It's not even about deskilling. I raced road bikes for years and in large part drive like I rode: highly defensive (bordering on aggressive as I've been lectured by LEOs). I commuted for years in my roadster with a manual transmission & power steering set for the track where I'm highly engaged as I can feel every crack in the road and the car can accelerate to unholy speeds in seconds. When I drive our sedan, it's boring and I find my mind drifting. If I turn on assisted cruise control, it's mind numbingly boring and on any long drive I'm guaranteed to fall asleep so I don't use it anymore because it's too dangerous.
Without being engaged in the act of driving, without the adrenaline, I switch off. This is the key problem I suspect everyone at some level suffers from wether they want to admit it or not. Even awake, on full autopilot I suspect most people are in full-on daydream mode.
- tomxor 9y agoI don't race but I have noticed this with my "normal" car, i've always driven a hatchback though which are quite common in this country. If I force myself to drive very steady I can almost feel the alertness drifting away, I become less aware of vehicles around me and their bearing. If I speed up to a threshold just between the bored comfortable zone and racing it's enough to give heightened alertness, I can easily preempt drivers making careless moves that would otherwise endanger me and I notice pedestrians and other things around the road more, it's a strange balance, but i've no doubt that sticking dead to the limit on a large road will decrease alertness in any study.