4 ms·

What's the difference between driving with and without kids?

scruple 5y ago
I can only speak to twins, and they're toddlers and not old enough to be on a bus, but... My driving ability rapidly deteriorates when they decide it's time to start arguing / fighting with each other, or myself, or when they're just screaming about whatever it is they decide they want to scream about, or when they're having a "problem" and are demanding help, etc. I've accidentally rolled stop signs, I've accidentally crossed lanes, I forget my blinker. It's all of the hallmarks of distracted driving. It's not constant, in fact it's rare, but then I only have 2 in the car with me and it only takes once for an accident. We have very long conversations now about why it's bad to distract the driver before we get in the car and start the engine. It's helping, slowly. I cannot imagine doing it for a living.
ghoward 5y ago
The sibling comment to this one is absolutely correct that the root cause is distraction, but I'm going to elaborate on that. * Noise. The inside of a school bus is very noisy, even with quiet kids. During the particular route I was on when I decided I needed more training (I accidentally hit a pickup truck mirror with mine; no damage because it just folded inward), I was taking the sweetest, quietest elementary school kids. And yet, the inside of the bus was loud because some of them were talking. (Note that I still had a trainer with me when I had that accident; I was that green.) * Movement. You can see basically all of the kids in the big mirror above the windshield. Humans, like most animals, have evolved eyes and a brain that focus on movement, mostly to avoid being eaten by predators. While okay on the savanna, in a bus, this means your eye is constantly drawn to the big mirror, taking your eyes off the road. In the aforementioned accident I had, my eyes were drawn to the mirror at the wrong time as well. * Task saturation. [1] If you haven't heard of it, follow that link. But basically, when learning to drive a bus, I could focus entirely on the bus, which does require your full attention. Your trainer usually tells you where to go, so you don't even need to think about navigation. When adding kids, you now have to think about navigation (following the route), and hitting the correct bus stops. Hitting the stops also isn't just a matter of stopping at the right place; you have to activate the lights early, meaning you have to think ahead. * Communication. In aviation, there are three things you must do, from most to least important: aviate (fly the plane), navigate, communicate. For buses, it's drive the bus, navigate, and communicate. Communication is about handling the radio to other buses and dispatch, as well as getting on the intercom if necessary. * Thinking ahead. In addition to all of that, to drive a bus correctly, you always need to be thinking about 15-20 seconds ahead. You need to see a green light 1/4 of a mile ahead of you and anticipate that it will turn yellow. You need to watch the traffic ahead of you to anticipate problems because you can't slow down as quickly as they can, etc. Trying to do that without distraction is hard. Doing that with distraction can easily cause you to lose all of the context about it when a distraction steals your attention for just a moment. There might be more, but that's all I can think of at the moment. I hope it answers your question. [1]: https://nbaa.org/aircraft-operations/safety/task-saturation-how-much-is-too-much/ https://nbaa.org/aircraft-operations/safety/task-saturation-...
tennisflyi 5y ago
Everything? It's like a pilot on a sim v. real life with 300+ people/"souls"...

I can only speak to twins, and they're toddlers and not old enough to be on a bus, but... My driving ability rapidly deteriorates when they decide it's time to start arguing / fighting with each other, or myself, or when they're just screaming about whatever it is they decide they want to scream about, or when they're having a "problem" and are demanding help, etc. I've accidentally rolled stop signs, I've accidentally crossed lanes, I forget my blinker. It's all of the hallmarks of distracted driving. It's not constant, in fact it's rare, but then I only have 2 in the car with me and it only takes once for an accident. We have very long conversations now about why it's bad to distract the driver before we get in the car and start the engine. It's helping, slowly. I cannot imagine doing it for a living.

ghoward 5y ago

The sibling comment to this one is absolutely correct that the root cause is distraction, but I'm going to elaborate on that. * Noise. The inside of a school bus is very noisy, even with quiet kids. During the particular route I was on when I decided I needed more training (I accidentally hit a pickup truck mirror with mine; no damage because it just folded inward), I was taking the sweetest, quietest elementary school kids. And yet, the inside of the bus was loud because some of them were talking. (Note that I still had a trainer with me when I had that accident; I was that green.) * Movement. You can see basically all of the kids in the big mirror above the windshield. Humans, like most animals, have evolved eyes and a brain that focus on movement, mostly to avoid being eaten by predators. While okay on the savanna, in a bus, this means your eye is constantly drawn to the big mirror, taking your eyes off the road. In the aforementioned accident I had, my eyes were drawn to the mirror at the wrong time as well. * Task saturation. [1] If you haven't heard of it, follow that link. But basically, when learning to drive a bus, I could focus entirely on the bus, which does require your full attention. Your trainer usually tells you where to go, so you don't even need to think about navigation. When adding kids, you now have to think about navigation (following the route), and hitting the correct bus stops. Hitting the stops also isn't just a matter of stopping at the right place; you have to activate the lights early, meaning you have to think ahead. * Communication. In aviation, there are three things you must do, from most to least important: aviate (fly the plane), navigate, communicate. For buses, it's drive the bus, navigate, and communicate. Communication is about handling the radio to other buses and dispatch, as well as getting on the intercom if necessary. * Thinking ahead. In addition to all of that, to drive a bus correctly, you always need to be thinking about 15-20 seconds ahead. You need to see a green light 1/4 of a mile ahead of you and anticipate that it will turn yellow. You need to watch the traffic ahead of you to anticipate problems because you can't slow down as quickly as they can, etc. Trying to do that without distraction is hard. Doing that with distraction can easily cause you to lose all of the context about it when a distraction steals your attention for just a moment. There might be more, but that's all I can think of at the moment. I hope it answers your question. [1]: https://nbaa.org/aircraft-operations/safety/task-saturation-how-much-is-too-much/ https://nbaa.org/aircraft-operations/safety/task-saturation-...

tennisflyi 5y ago

Everything? It's like a pilot on a sim v. real life with 300+ people/"souls"...