Hold the phone.
Because in driving, distracted, neither Adam nor Jamie could drive safely while talking
hands free. But now in a
location way more sophisticated.
It's locked. It's time to up the ante.
Jamie and I have realized we need much more controlled, scientific and realistic
conditions. Which is why we've come here to enlist the help of the experts at the
Stanford University Automotive Innovation Facility.
When we ask for their help in getting more realistic.
They showed us a virtual world.
Come here. This is their state of the art driving simulator.
It is awesome. From the front seat of this car, you are completely immersed in a world
controlled and designed by a computer into which we can add all sorts of traffic,
pedestrians, obstacles and surprises for all of our test subjects.
That's right, many, many test subjects while we get to the bottom of this myth.
It's a multi-million dollar machine.
All right then.
Going for a drive in the simulator.
Which Jamie can't resist turning up to 11.
Okay, here we go. I want to go the other way.
Whoa! This is crazy.
Yeah. Crazy.
Driving aside, this driving simulator is actually very good.
Yeah. Let's get out of.
The way the screen wraps around, the visuals are convincing enough that you have to remind
yourself that this isn't a real driving scenario.
He's doing like 95.
Interesting. We'll see how he likes this.
In fact, it's so good that I was starting to get a little carsick.
So I think as far as testing distracted driving, it's as good a simulation as we're
going to get.
As well as the freeway.
There's also a detailed cityscape.
Guess I'd better put it in reverse.
So that all driving environments are tested.
The 30 volunteer drivers will be judged on whether they pay attention to the
instructions.
At the next intersection, turn left.
And whether or not they crash.
But that's not the only data, because drivers will also wear the latest in eye
tracking technology.
This eye tracking system records precisely where and how long I'm looking at something
now that's going to give us hard data as to the level of distraction that I'm
experiencing while I'm driving.
With eagle eyed Jamie all wired up, he's going to be the first data of the day.
All right.
Calling him now.
And a Hyneman that's got his hands full.
Hello.
Good morning, Mr. Hyneman.
Are you ready to start this test?
I'm ready. Okay.
Kick the car into drive, start driving, and I'll start asking you some questions.
The questions are similar to those posed before.
Did you play a musical instrument as a child?
Jamie?
I had a tuba in the bathroom right next to the toilet that would play when I was, you
know, doing number two or something.
But what's interesting is that on the freeway speed.
Underwater camera, Jamie's.
Driving. Hold on.
Yeah. Somebody just pulled in front of me and answers.
Camera.
Underwater speed are surprisingly solid.
In fact, it's only when he hits the streets.
12 and seven.
That he starts to waver.
Okay. Uh uh.
Let's see 19.
With so many distractions, it's no surprise when Jamie takes a turn for the worse.
At the next intersection.
Turn left. Jamie, you have taken a wrong turn.
And that means that the test is over.
You have failed.
Okay?
With no rest for the wicked, Jamie immediately moves on to the hands free test.
Hello.
What is the longest running race.
In the Olympic Games called?
The longest running race in.
In the Olympic game is called a marathon.
A marathon. Marathon?
Do you mean marathon?
Yeah. Okay.
Once again, Jamie's focused on the freeway, but struggles in the city as his brain tries
to process the traffic and the conversation.
The Earth is located in what galaxy?
Uh, the, um.
You know, I don't know the answer to that question.
Like last time at the.
Next intersection, turn left.
Jamie doesn't crash, but he does ignore the GPS.
Oh, I'm sorry I screwed this up.
Meaning he's failed again.
Well, the long and the short of it is that Jamie has done this test twice in our virtual
environment. Once holding the phone, once hands free.
And he has failed both times.
It's looking pretty good for this myth.
But we are not leaving it here.
No, no, no, we're going to funnel a whole bunch of volunteers through this testing
procedure to get some real numbers to back up our potential conclusion.
First of the 30 volunteers is Tiffany, who will be driving hands full.
The first thing I want to know is what musical instrument you played as a child.
None on the freeway.
Her driving is solid.
Logic questions.
And her answers are perfect name for days that start with.
The letter T today, tomorrow, Tuesday and Thursday.
Excellent.
But moments after hitting the city.
How much dirt is.
Oh.
We just ran down a cyclist.
This test is over.
Next up is Michael.
Hello. And hands free.
He's fine on the freeway.
What is something you have at home that you should throw away?
But you can't.
Oh, my old computer.
I still have one that got built in, like, 95.
But deadly downtown.
Which country has the.
Ah, I believe that might be the end of our test there, Michael.
Where did that come from?
Thank you very much, sir.
When the next four volunteers also crash and burn.
It's looking good for the myth.
Stop the car and please.
License and registration, ma'am.
And although driver seven does make it through the course intact.
All right. Congratulations.
You have successfully completed the test.
Nearly all other drivers, whatever their phone fashion, either.
Get lost.
Ron, I'm sorry to inform you that you have now missed a turn, and thus the test is over.
Or worse.
Oh, we had a crash, didn't we?
Undeterred, the guys plow on through two full days of testing.
And when volunteer 30 takes dramatic evasive action.
I suck at this.
The guys have all the data they could hope for.
All right. We have run a lot of volunteers through this experiment.
We've got a lot of data to take a look at.
So it's time to leave this virtual world, drive through the real world, back to our
shop and crunch the numbers.
I'm that way.
They said that. That is hilarious.
Hold on just a second. What?
We were waiting for the results on distracted driving.
Okay, I got to call you back.
Yes, we have results.
We tested 30 drivers out in Stanford.
15 hands full, 15 hands free.
Here is the result.
Hands full one passed, five failed by driving the wrong way.
Nine failed by crashing hands free one passed, six failed by getting lost and eight
failed by crashing.
What's that mean? Statistically.
Statistically, it means no difference.
And what about eye tracking?
The eye tracker was very interesting across all 30 drivers, the amount of time they spent
looking at something other than the road was identical between hands free and hands full.
Well, there you have it.
Don't use your cell phone while you're driving.
Yeah. I'm done. Okay, so where do you want to meet for lunch?