The Act and Art of Conversation

Just Monday, I plowed my bus into some jackass that had no idea such a thing as a Transit Only lane existed. Don't worry, it was a clean hit -- a T-bone strike on his side unblemished by marks on the rear of his vehicle that might suggest a failure on my part to yield to traffic ahead -- and no one was seriously hurt. A few of my passengers were treated for bumps and bruises at the scene and released.

I mention all of this because he was on his cell phone at the time of the crash.

I'll give him credit where due -- it was a hands-free model. Still, I have noticed a lot of driving, and a lot of driving while yapping -- I used to work as a tour guide, guiding both the narrative and the vehicle, be it a bus, a boat, an amphibious hybrid -- and I don't think the use of your hands is the real issue behind talking/driving concerns.

Rather, when one has a conversation, one tends to engage in an act that all take for granted but few understand. It is not until now, the age of remote verbal communication, that this act needs for safety reasons to be better understood.

When we talk to each other, we root ourselves to that place. We engage in a mental process that excludes much around us -- background noise, other chatter -- and guides our attention to the here and now, the conversation.

Don't believe me? Just watch a student film project. When it is being shot, the shooters, the camera and sound crew, are with the performers, and therefore zeroing in on the place, on the scene. This focus unconsciously edits the event at that time in their heads. In the editing phase, new videographers and filmers are constantly amazed that their dialog, perfectly heard on set or scene, is drowned in a sea of extraneous noise, or garbled by tricks of the mike. They are even more shocked to discover how much less understandable the characters become once one can not read their lips and faces.

Need further proof? Go to a party. Mingle. Then, pay attention to all the noise. How is it that you can distill the signal of conversation from all that ruckus, all that distraction? In terms of processing power, that is a lot of computational ability devoted to filtering.

So when we speak over a phone, even a wired one, we unconsciously adjust our attention and our tone to compensate for the disconnected immediacy the phone provides. Ever notice how people on the phone in public places often seem to have no ability to lower their voices, or, if they are aware of their surroundings, have difficulty keeping quiet? I believe they are compensating for a lack of immediacy caused by the absence of their conversationalist. Increasing their volume does more than make sure they are heard; it focuses their attentions away from the now extraneous information provided by their surroundings, none of which can reinforce the message of the conversation.

So why don't we have more accidents when we are speaking to passengers and drivers occupying the same car? Think back to the party. Just as one can hear many conversations and pay attention only to one, I believe the sharing of surroundings, the physical presence of the conversationalist, actually grounds the driver in the here and now. They are talking to, engaging, connecting with, a person in their presence; that grounding may actually reinforce the presence of the surrounding vehicle and direct necessary attention to the wheel and the pedals. Returning to my own experience, I never had a problem driving and talking to passengers at the same time. The only concern is the relative attention level required by the road or sea at the time of the talk. When the traffic crowds, when obstacles approach, it's time to devote more attention to outside and less to the folks aboard. Oftentimes, they don't even notice the difference. All the while I am talking to and with them, their presence on the vehicle acts to positively reinforce the surroundings and my attention to them.

This type of grounding does not exist when one listens to the stereo. We are talking here about the difference between passive listening and active, a difference that demonstrably affects one's ability to competantly engage simultaneously in tasks of sufficient complexity.

Whatever the process, it has been demonstrated: drivers on the phone drive no better than drunks or the dangerously sleep deprived. The only variable is the level of remote conversation intoxication.

Just ask that asshole who drove his truck in front of me, [Name Redacted] of Bothell, Washington.