I watched one of the Mythbusters videos for this blog. It explored the topic of hands free driving devices and their ability to improve driving safety. There were a lot of good things they did to test this idea, but also quite a few things that could have been done to improve their experiment and make it a little better.
The first mini test was a driving course set up the same for both the two drivers. I thought this was a strength having the same course design meant that the level of difficulty wouldn’t vary with the driver. However, some people generally tend to just be better at driving than others as well as better at multitasking. The questions that were asked of each driver either through the phone or Bluetooth triggered the same part of brain, the prefrontal cortex. The asking of the same type of question to each driver was also a strength of this study. The downfall this experiment had was that one individual only did hands free driving and the other only did hands full driving they didn’t switch roles. Who is to know if the two men in the test have the same skills in driving or if one is naturally a little more talented at driving than the other. Adding more than just two people to this study would help to come to a better conclusion as well.
The second test involved 30 volunteer drivers in a driving simulator created at Stanford. They were then divided into two groups those using a phone and those using Bluetooth, both groups receiving GPS instructions. The course was monitored on a computer screen so each individual ran the same one in a controlled environment and the same car, this was a major strength for the experiment. I think another strength for this test was also the size. More people could help the experiment to receive better results. However, the age of the participants wasn’t specified. I think we can all agree a 17 year old driver would have quite a different driving experience than a 40 year old driver. Gender also wasn’t taken into account which could be a whole other topic in itself, are men better drivers than women? The participants did not switch roles either from hands full to hands free they just completed the course using one. Having a separate group run the simulation with the use of no devices to test the difference in performance as a control, could have also heled to see clearer results. I believe running a controlled simulated course in the same car with lets say, 30 men ranging from 35-45 years old would be a better test. Each of the men getting a chance to do the test with no devices, with Bluetooth devices, and lastly with their hands full.
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Hi Kaley! This was a great response of comparing the pros and cons of the Mythbusters’ experiment, you noticed some things that I definitely might not have. I completely agree with your critique of the first experiment set that they did: there were simply not enough people and, from what we saw at least, not enough controls. I agree with you that their second experiment gained strength from its bigger size and steadier controls. I like your notice of the varied sample (age/gender), but I wonder if conducting an experiment with only men aged 35-45 will yield accurate results. I strongly support your change in having all 30 participants run the course both hands-free and not, but I think the variation in age and gender is vital to having representation. Men aged 35-45 will not represent all drivers. In your own words, men and women might be different in regards to being able to multitask, or younger drivers won’t have the full skills to drive a course like someone middle aged can. To even out any of these differences, I think a varied sample is important to get accurate results, so long as the variations are spread across both groups evenly.
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