Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration NITZ says that just
under thirty three hundred people were killed based on due
to distracted driving. And we're talking about potentially four hundred thousand,
four hundred thousand injuries last year in the United States
(00:22):
due to distracted driving. So what can be done about
it other than telling people, you know, pay attention. Joining
us to talk about the problem, and what he's trying
to do about it is Dan Glazer, who is a
driver distraction engineer at General Motors.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Dan, welcome to KOA. It's good to have you here.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Hey, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Is it bad for me to play wordle while I'm driving?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yes, it is a problem because as you look at
your screen, you do it for a long period of time,
and then, you know, to help protect yourself a little bit,
you look back up the road for a fraction of
a second, but then you go back to wordle and
it turns out, I mean, surprise, surprise, that that actually
increases risk by a lot. So wouldn't suggest wordle per se?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Okay, So to get slightly more serious, when you say
that increases risk by a lot, can you kind of
quantify for us when somebody's doing that kind of thing,
I think they don't understand just like how far they're
going down the road when they're not looking.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Absolutely so we've been able to study this rather closely.
And one great example of this is this thirty one
hundred driver's study where each of them volunteer for a
year to be you know, monitored with cameras, and we're
able to see the kinds of things that are happening
before crashes and how much more likely those things are happening.
(01:55):
And so that allows us to understand that texting is
time more likely to lead you to a crash. But
it's not just about texting. Rubber necking that's when you
look off the road for a long period of time
and then look forward for a fraction of a second
and look back off because that crash is so interesting.
That multiplies your crash risk by seven. You don't want
to get in a crash. Well, rubber necking, even something
(02:18):
like rummaging around your vehicle, that multiplies your crash risk
by nine because it leads to that long off road
glance short forward. And so it's not so much the thing,
it's what that thing is making your eyes do and
so I think it's good to think in that way.
There's lots of ways to be you know, distracted and
dangerous without a phone in your hands.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
So one other form of quantification that i'll I'll ask
you for And I remember I've seen something like this data,
but I don't remember it. But if you are looking
away from the road, it doesn't matter what else you're
looking at. But if you are looking away from the
road for some very short amount of time, like you
(03:00):
go the length of a football field like faster than
you can imagine, And so that kind of puts it
in context as to you know, how hard it might
be to stop and avoid an accident.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Do you know what I'm talking about?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I do.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I think it's fifty five miles an hour for five seconds. Now, yeah,
you never want to look away for five seconds, but
I think there are times you do have to look away, right,
You need to check a mirror, and maybe there's just
you want to change a setting on your kind of
big screen in the car. That's all appropriate, but you
want to make sure that that field is clear when
(03:37):
you take that short off road plan. So not all
fields are the same. If it's a crowded football field
you're maybe going to behave a little bit different than
if it's a clear football field. So it's not just
the distance, is how much stuff is in that distance.
So we should be you know, we should have prudence
when it comes to once a good time to take
your eyes off the road, and it should always What
(03:58):
should come first is always a long on road glance,
so you know what's ahead of you. You know, Okay,
so we pop out in front of you.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
So for how many seconds can I prudently do wordle
while I'm driving?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Well, really, at any particular opera glance that's come with
the risk. Unfortunately, driving is not risk risk free, so
I wouldn't really suggest wordle, but but you can reduce
the risk of those opera glances by really understanding what's
in front of you first.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
And just for listeners, don't do wordle or anything else
like that while you're driving. I'm just sort of messing
around now now I want to switch gears a little
still basically on this topic.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
But Dan, you are an engineer, and what I'm really.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Fascinated by, and we just have about two minutes left,
but what I'm really interested in is on the technological side,
what are you guys able to do so far?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
And what do you think you will be able to
do to try to.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Increase safety on the road, knowing that some people are
just gonna do something that distracts themselves.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Okay, so there are two things I want to talk about. First,
one is we're now able to monitor the driver in
a way that's rather useful. So there is a little
camera in some of our vehicles that doesn't take video
and store the video. That's not what it's doing, but
rather it can tell whether a driver's yawning, closing their
eyes about the fall asleep. I'm sure you want your
relative to be woken up that they're about to fall asleep.
(05:27):
Some of our cars can do that also the same
if you're looking off the road too long. Also, I
think the advancements of voice assistance in the vehicles and
being able to just say what you want to happen
has great promise. So I would look at that for advancements,
you know, for not just our company, but for all
vehicles being sold and getting familiar with that technology so
(05:48):
that you can spend more time with your hands on
wheel and eyes forward.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
So I have a vague recollection that maybe at some
point I drove. I want to say it was a
Cadillac and it had some level of self driving feature,
and it had what you're talking about, And so if
it if it thought you were looking away for more
than a very very brief time. I don't remember, maybe
it would vibrate the steering wheel or or something.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I mean, is that kind in a sense.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
You're talking about supercrews? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah, yeah, right, So so is that like what else
can be done to say to a driver, dude, look
at the road.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Well, you know, we're always working on stuff, and I'm
unfortunately I'm not allowed to talk about all of those things.
I really would mean I could. But for instance, what
happens in Supercreuse, which I think you're talking about, is
if you don't look at the road at some point,
because that his hands off and feet off, it actually
drives you down the highway. If you stop paying attention,
the vehicle will simply slow down and come to a stop.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yeah. I think I think that's what it was. It
was it was super Cruise.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
It really does seem like, first of all, it's it's
a it's a serious problem. We're talking about hundreds of
thousands of injuries in the US every year, and I
have to say, I drive around a lot, go to work,
from work, to my kids school, from my kids' school.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Do you know whatever errands? I see?
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Distracted people all the time, constant, it's everywhere. It's more
than it's ever been, and it doesn't seem like it's
actually getting better, and people are getting hurt and people are.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Going to keep getting hurt.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
So this this is you know, April is Distracted Driving
Awareness Month and Dan Glazer at GM is a driver
distraction engineer trying to save us from ourselves. I'll give
you the last seventeen seconds if you want to add anything.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah, So you know, as of January first, twenty twenty five,
in Colorado, it is illegal to touch your phone hold
it up, whether you're texting or not. Find start at
seventy five dollars and you can have points taken from
from your license. So if the risk of you know,
hurting yourself and those around you isn't enough, you know,
at least let's be lawful out there.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Dan Glazer, driver distraction engineer at General Motors.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Thanks for your time, Dan, interesting stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Thanks for having me
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration NITZ says that just
under thirty three hundred people were killed based on due
to distracted driving. And we're talking about potentially four hundred thousand,
four hundred thousand injuries last year in the United States
(00:22):
due to distracted driving. So what can be done about
it other than telling people, you know, pay attention. Joining
us to talk about the problem, and what he's trying
to do about it is Dan Glazer, who is a
driver distraction engineer at General Motors.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Dan, welcome to KOA. It's good to have you here.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Hey, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Is it bad for me to play wordle while I'm driving?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yes, it is a problem because as you look at
your screen, you do it for a long period of time,
and then, you know, to help protect yourself a little bit,
you look back up the road for a fraction of
a second, but then you go back to wordle and
it turns out, I mean, surprise, surprise, that that actually
increases risk by a lot. So wouldn't suggest wordle per se?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Okay, So to get slightly more serious, when you say
that increases risk by a lot, can you kind of
quantify for us when somebody's doing that kind of thing,
I think they don't understand just like how far they're
going down the road when they're not looking.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Absolutely so we've been able to study this rather closely.
And one great example of this is this thirty one
hundred driver's study where each of them volunteer for a
year to be you know, monitored with cameras, and we're
able to see the kinds of things that are happening
before crashes and how much more likely those things are happening.
(01:55):
And so that allows us to understand that texting is
time more likely to lead you to a crash. But
it's not just about texting. Rubber necking that's when you
look off the road for a long period of time
and then look forward for a fraction of a second
and look back off because that crash is so interesting.
That multiplies your crash risk by seven. You don't want
to get in a crash. Well, rubber necking, even something
(02:18):
like rummaging around your vehicle, that multiplies your crash risk
by nine because it leads to that long off road
glance short forward. And so it's not so much the thing,
it's what that thing is making your eyes do and
so I think it's good to think in that way.
There's lots of ways to be you know, distracted and
dangerous without a phone in your hands.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
So one other form of quantification that i'll I'll ask
you for And I remember I've seen something like this data,
but I don't remember it. But if you are looking
away from the road, it doesn't matter what else you're
looking at. But if you are looking away from the
road for some very short amount of time, like you
(03:00):
go the length of a football field like faster than
you can imagine, And so that kind of puts it
in context as to you know, how hard it might
be to stop and avoid an accident.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Do you know what I'm talking about?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I do.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I think it's fifty five miles an hour for five seconds. Now, yeah,
you never want to look away for five seconds, but
I think there are times you do have to look away, right,
You need to check a mirror, and maybe there's just
you want to change a setting on your kind of
big screen in the car. That's all appropriate, but you
want to make sure that that field is clear when
(03:37):
you take that short off road plan. So not all
fields are the same. If it's a crowded football field
you're maybe going to behave a little bit different than
if it's a clear football field. So it's not just
the distance, is how much stuff is in that distance.
So we should be you know, we should have prudence
when it comes to once a good time to take
your eyes off the road, and it should always What
(03:58):
should come first is always a long on road glance,
so you know what's ahead of you. You know, Okay,
so we pop out in front of you.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
So for how many seconds can I prudently do wordle
while I'm driving?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Well, really, at any particular opera glance that's come with
the risk. Unfortunately, driving is not risk risk free, so
I wouldn't really suggest wordle, but but you can reduce
the risk of those opera glances by really understanding what's
in front of you first.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
And just for listeners, don't do wordle or anything else
like that while you're driving. I'm just sort of messing
around now now I want to switch gears a little
still basically on this topic.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
But Dan, you are an engineer, and what I'm really.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Fascinated by, and we just have about two minutes left,
but what I'm really interested in is on the technological side,
what are you guys able to do so far?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
And what do you think you will be able to
do to try to.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Increase safety on the road, knowing that some people are
just gonna do something that distracts themselves.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Okay, so there are two things I want to talk about. First,
one is we're now able to monitor the driver in
a way that's rather useful. So there is a little
camera in some of our vehicles that doesn't take video
and store the video. That's not what it's doing, but
rather it can tell whether a driver's yawning, closing their
eyes about the fall asleep. I'm sure you want your
relative to be woken up that they're about to fall asleep.
(05:27):
Some of our cars can do that also the same
if you're looking off the road too long. Also, I
think the advancements of voice assistance in the vehicles and
being able to just say what you want to happen
has great promise. So I would look at that for advancements,
you know, for not just our company, but for all
vehicles being sold and getting familiar with that technology so
(05:48):
that you can spend more time with your hands on
wheel and eyes forward.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
So I have a vague recollection that maybe at some
point I drove. I want to say it was a
Cadillac and it had some level of self driving feature,
and it had what you're talking about, And so if
it if it thought you were looking away for more
than a very very brief time. I don't remember, maybe
it would vibrate the steering wheel or or something.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I mean, is that kind in a sense.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
You're talking about supercrews? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah, yeah, right, So so is that like what else
can be done to say to a driver, dude, look
at the road.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Well, you know, we're always working on stuff, and I'm
unfortunately I'm not allowed to talk about all of those things.
I really would mean I could. But for instance, what
happens in Supercreuse, which I think you're talking about, is
if you don't look at the road at some point,
because that his hands off and feet off, it actually
drives you down the highway. If you stop paying attention,
the vehicle will simply slow down and come to a stop.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yeah. I think I think that's what it was. It
was it was super Cruise.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
It really does seem like, first of all, it's it's
a it's a serious problem. We're talking about hundreds of
thousands of injuries in the US every year, and I
have to say, I drive around a lot, go to work,
from work, to my kids school, from my kids' school.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Do you know whatever errands? I see?
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Distracted people all the time, constant, it's everywhere. It's more
than it's ever been, and it doesn't seem like it's
actually getting better, and people are getting hurt and people are.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Going to keep getting hurt.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
So this this is you know, April is Distracted Driving
Awareness Month and Dan Glazer at GM is a driver
distraction engineer trying to save us from ourselves. I'll give
you the last seventeen seconds if you want to add anything.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah, So you know, as of January first, twenty twenty five,
in Colorado, it is illegal to touch your phone hold
it up, whether you're texting or not. Find start at
seventy five dollars and you can have points taken from
from your license. So if the risk of you know,
hurting yourself and those around you isn't enough, you know,
at least let's be lawful out there.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Dan Glazer, driver distraction engineer at General Motors.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Thanks for your time, Dan, interesting stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Thanks for having me
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