cyrnel

They are a bit different. An adult passenger can recognize context and pause the conversation, or stop interrupting when the situation warrants terror. Callers have little or no indication of what's going on around you and will split your attention without knowing the difference. It's more like having a child in the back seat, which can be extremely disconcerting in a stressful driving situation.

Anyway, just picking nits. You're right there are other distractions, and people handle them differently. If we could create a cone of isolation for drivers I'd vote for it, assuming it didn't contribute to more drivers falling asleep.

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There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195