Driving the GreenRoad to Safety: Lap top driving lesson

There are essentially two types of laptop users. I am somewhat of an expert on this matter. Much of my time is spent travelling so there is plenty of opportunity to have a look at other business travelers’ laptop screens. I know it’s peeking, but it’s pretty interesting to see what others are up to..

There is the clean and orderly type. At the top of the left hand corner your will see the “my computer” icon, followed by the “my documents” and “my networks”. The background image will display a sunset from last vacation or a photo of a happy family. This in itself is an accomplishment, because as you must know, one has to shoot around 500 images with a digital camera on vacation to be able to end up with one good photo in which everybody is smiling, nobody is making a funny face and everyone has their eyes open.

If you would spend a little bit more time looking at this person’s laptop screen you will see there may be one or two applications open at a time. That’s it. These people are focused and efficient operators. They may work on a presentation, or edit an excel sheet, and that’s about it. The strain on their laptop processor is minimal, and their brain is focused on the task at hand.

The second type of laptop user is the person with “all of my files since I had an IBM XT” kept on the desktop. 15 different applications are open at the same time. Windows keep on opening and closing, and I assume the user has a sense of being able to multi-task and achieving more. The fun part of finding this type of laptop user is waiting to see when their laptop will crash. And it’s just a question of time before they do.

Any experienced laptop user (aren’t we all?) knows that too many applications open at the same time, put a strain on the processor, and eventually you will crash.

No, you are not reading a CNET review on laptop performance. We are still discussing driving safety, what motivates drivers to drive the way they do, and what we can all do to increase driving safety.

So here are some important driving lessons I learnt from my laptop that can help increase your driving safety:

· When you drive, don’t multi-task. The more “applications” you have open at any given moment (driving + fiddling with the radio + answering a phone call + laughing with Tom + looking for the right exit off the highway) the greater the strain on your “processor”. Just like your laptop, too many applications running at the same time slows reaction time, and eventually you will crash.

· Select one application you want to work with and stick to it. Unlike our laptops we can’t really purchase more memory, invest in a faster hard disk or buy a more expensive and faster processor. We have what we have. So when you drive, just drive – it’s complicated and strenuous as it is.

This is especially applicable for teen drivers. In almost every aspect of life we encourage them to multi-task and handle several challenges simultaneously. The only place where we do not (absolutely do not) want teens to multi-task, is when they drive. The importance of stepping out of a multi-tasked world (their social life, college, school, sports) and into a single task world (focus on your driving while you drive) is not an easy or intuitive switch, and some teens go through this switch 20 times a day.

This is an issue every parent of a teen driver should be aware of -- and should make sure his or her teen driver is aware of as well. The simplest and easiest step any parent can do is talk with (not to) his or her teen driver and bring this issue up. Awareness does wonders.

Drive safely, it’s worth it!

Hod Fleishman

Founder and Chief of Safety, GreenRoad.

Comments

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I like the analogy. Somehow, the similarity in terminology makes it all the more daunting. Maybe by translating it in "laptop" terms, student drivers will be able to apply the lesson more adeptly.

Posted by: Naomi Champy | August 12, 2011 at 12:58 PM

It is an interesting one and helpful software to become professional driver. This type of software helpful to learn from any place and anytime to know about the basic idea about the traffic rules & regulations, speed and so on. I am appreciated to share the valuable information.

Posted by: best drivers | May 20, 2011 at 01:34 AM

You should check out The CarPC Store and their Laptop Disablers or Driver Safety System. Their solutions prevent you from using a laptop while driving. They target companies for the product, but you can order a sample which works great for your teenage driver too!

Their websites are http://www.laptopdisabler.com and http://www.thecarpcstore.com

Posted by: Travis | February 03, 2010 at 04:50 PM