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What Do You Look At When You Drive?

iWe
@iWe
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Yesterday I witnessed an accident on our local beltway (I-695). I was behind another vehicle. The driver partially moved into the left lane, realized another car was there (though it was tight, she was not actually going to hit it), thought she was going to collide, over-corrected (twice) to get back into her own lane, almost rolled, and ended up glancing off the concrete median barrier. No other cars were hit, but it could very easily have become a multi-car pileup.

I avoided the collision because I watched it happen, and took appropriate evasive action. But I know that had I been distracted at all, we would have been in the middle of a lot of dissipating kinetic energy.

But then I thought: in the movies and TV, the driver turns his/her head to look at the passenger, during a conversation. Invariably. And I wondered: do real people, real drivers of cars, ever turn their heads while driving, in normal conversation? Or do they do as I do: keep looking ahead, and talking while seemingly addressing the road?

In other words: is the entertainment depiction accurate for some people, or is it just a convention to allow conversations in cars to not look too weird?

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Discussion (41)

  • Stad@Stad
    iWe (View Post):
    But then I thought: in the movies and TV, the driver turns his/her head to look at the passenger, during a conversation. Invariably. And I wondered: do real people, real drivers of cars, ever turn their heads while driving, in normal conversation? Or do they do as I do: keep looking ahead, and talking while seemingly addressing the road?

    I keep focused on the road. I think the head-turning in movies and TV is to give the actors some activity other than focusing straight ahead. OTOH, sometimes they deliberately look at the person they're talking to so as to cause (or almost cause) an accident as part of the plot. This sounds like a question for @GaryMcVey . . .

  • The Scarecrow@TheScarecrow

    Whenever I see the driver turn and talk to the passenger - and they sometimes do this for a full ten seconds - I reflexively shout “Watch the road, you imbecile!” It’s very irritating, the stupidity of the scene (for me), and me (for everyone else in the room).

  • Full Size Tabby@FullSizeTabby

    As to movies and television portrayals, turning the head joins several other unrealistic actors do while acting out driving, including excessive movement of the steering wheel and upshifting through a ridiculous number of transmission gears. All done for some cinematic reason other than precise portrayal of realistic driving.

  • Bartholomew Xerxes Ogilvie, Jr.@BartholomewXerxesOgilvieJr

    I notice the same thing. I suspect in many cases it's not really a deliberate decision by the filmmakers, but rather just natural subconscious behavior. The actors know they're not really driving, but rather being towed, and so they converse naturally. I do find it distracting, though.

    It would be far more realistic to show drivers looking at their phones.

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