May 30, 2025 • 30 mins
People are dying on our roadways and it’s not just a U.S. problem, it’s a global issue that continues to claim thousands of lives each year. Admit it or not, most of us are addicted to our phones. Your crash risk increases from between 2 and 6 time highers when you use a phone behind the wheel. On this episode, we're talking to Dan Glaser, General Motors Driver Distraction Engineer, to get some tips on how to break bad habits and stay safer.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Virginia Focus. I'm Rebecca Hughes of the Virginia
News Network. People are dying on our roadways, and it's
not just a US problem. It's a global issue that
continues to claim thousands of lives each year. Admitted or not,
most of us are addicted to our phones. Your crash
risk increases from between two to six times higher when
(00:27):
you use a phone behind the wheel. On this episode,
we're talking to Dan Glazer, General Motors Driver distraction engineer
to get some tips on how to break bad habits
and stay safer. Thank you for coming on the show today.
I'm so glad that you could make time for us.
I know distracted driving is something that I think, whether
we like to admit it or not, everyone is guilty
(00:48):
of it. Would you agree?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I totally agree we could all be better.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Right, Why don't we start by telling the audience some
of your credentials. I know you're a safety expert with GM,
but ill you tell us a little bit about how
you got into this position?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Right? Well, in school, I was a psychology major and
I wanted to be a little more hands on, and
I was really interested in technology, so I ended up
going the route of computer human interaction and so this
is the study of how humans interact with machines. I
(01:23):
did a bit with some medical equipment, but I eventually
got a call or a request for employment from General
Motors and it was to be a in the kind
of driver distraction field, become the driver distraction expert for
General Motors. And it was also during a time that
(01:43):
jobs weren't so you know, available, So I took that
opportunity to go from Texas and go up north where
there are seasons. And I've been at General Motors ever since.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Okay, so you get to play in the winter in Detroit,
that's what you're saying, right.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I do. I got to learn skiing.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Oh nice, Nice, that's awesome. I lived up there for
a little while, and I grew up in Georgia, and
I'll never forget the first time I saw the dry
snow because I thought that literally did not exist. I
thought that was just for movies, and so I was
so excited.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, the first year at snowed in September and I
was a bit shell shocked. Yeah, yeah, what is going on?
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, And I'm sure you've gotten used to the two
seasons construction and Winter absolutely, yes, yeah, okay, well it
sounds like you landed a really great job being the
earback on this psychology. I love that. I think those
two things are amazing to put together. What would you
say to the person who when you say have you
ever driven distracted? And they go no, I don't do that? Like,
(02:46):
how do you get through to them that, yeah, you did.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well. Don't want to be mean and forceful about it,
but I think it's important to just identify that, you
know what, even the shortest glances, ill timed can lead
to these devastating consequences. I've had the privilege, I guess,
of seeing lots of footage of distracted drivers. So Virginia
(03:12):
Tech did ran a very large study where there were
thirty one one hundred drivers. They all volunteered and we
were able to kind of, you know, look after them
for about a year. And you would think that because
they were being monitored that they didn't do naughty things,
which is not true. They quickly got used to having
cameras there and did all kinds of things they shouldn't
(03:33):
be shouldn't be doing. But you know, we could see
just the shortest offer glance at the wrong time, maybe
at a billboard or or something else led to a crash,
and when they were asked about it later, they had
no idea what led to their crash or that they
were distracted. So I think it's important when we're on
the road to really think about how we're taking our
(03:55):
eyes off the road and not be casual about it.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
And I love that you brought up the virgin Tech
study because obviously this is Virginia focus and the state
of Virginia. Every year, at least as long as I've
done news for Virginia, which is about five years now,
every year they land in the top five of most
aggressive drivers, not just distracted, but aggressive and stuff like that.
(04:22):
And you know, I try to do a lot of
those stories to kind of educate people, and you know what,
you only can control what you can control, you know,
but driving is one of those things that really gets
to people.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Aggressive driving is is also a major problem. If it
doesn't go exactly how you think it's going to go,
you're likely going to get into a crash. So yeah,
it's important to stay calm out there.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, definitely. So in your research, why don't you tell
us a little bit about the things that you've done
and seen and learned.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Right. Well, I've done a fair bit at GM in
terms of trying to revamp labs so that when we
assess our applications that you know, we have a fair
bit of certainty that that's how people are going to
act on the road. So we've done a lot of
research with Virginia Tech to help make sure that when
(05:21):
we're seeing when when we have people do our tasks
in a lab, that the amount of eyes off road
behavior is similar to what we see when we have
them go out on a road. And so that's that's
been a really good and you know, enhancement to our
to our lab environment. But one thing for sure that
it's kind of coming up these days is the ability
(05:44):
to detect the driver and what they're doing in real
time and being able to do something about it. So
in the last few years, in model year twenty four,
we did start introducing a new feature called Driver Attention
Assist and this uses a camera on top of the
steering wheel, the same as our super crews hands off driving,
(06:06):
but you have to pay attention tech technology, and this
camera doesn't take video and store video and share video.
If that's where people's minds kind of naturally go, but
rather it can identify a scene and say, hey, you
know what, the driver's eyes are closing a lot. It
looks like maybe they're about to fall asleep, they're yawning.
(06:28):
Let's react in real time to help wake that driver up.
Same thing with distraction. If they're looking at the screen
or doing something looking off the road for a long
period of time, we can remind them to look back up.
So this is the start of I think, you know, reacting,
understanding what the driver's doing, and reacting to their needs
in real time. And this is and this is a
(06:49):
new avenue of technology that I think has a lot
of promise.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Okay, so I drive a GMC to rain. I think
mine's a twenty twenty, and I have the lane assist feature.
That's not what we're talking about, right, This looks this
is a camera aimed at the driver.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yes, yes, it's aimed aimed at the driver. So it
mainly detects their their head and there's lots of clues
in terms of the state of the driver based on
their head, where their eyes are. Again, they're their eye closure,
how much they're closing their eyes, if they're yawning, there
are also other other little clues kind of kind of
some of it's kind of a black box. But yes,
it can't analyze those signals and make and that camera
(07:29):
can tell the vehicle, hey, let's do something to help
this driver looks like they're they're kind of going off
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
So what kind of things would it do.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Well, It might be that they're looking at their phone
for a long time, or that they're looking down, rummaging
around on the ground for a long time. These things
are associated with a lot of increased risk, even more
than say, say texting. Rummaging around and rubber necking is
actually associated with more risks than texting. Similarly, if if
someone's been on a drive for a long time and
(08:00):
we are seeing again that they're getting a little in
their face, that their eyes aren't just open, they're starting
to close fully and for longer periods of time, we
can then make a judgment that hey, this driver looks
like they're on their way to fall asleep, and we
can do things to help limit the chances that that happened,
through seat vibrations, through alerts, and so this is I've
(08:25):
always felt that once we put a camera in the vehicle,
that no one should be falling asleep in the car
because we can see them, and so I'm happy to
finally bring that you promise to two GM products.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Okay, so I love that. I love your thought process.
But let's be real for a second. I don't know
about you. I love looking in other people's cars while
I'm driving. I know that's weird, but I do because
you see the funniest things, Like if you've ever passed
somebody when they're in the middle of a yawn, that
is the most funny thing I've ever seen in my life.
But you'll see so many people picking their nose, like
(09:04):
just digging on up in there, and I can see you. So, well,
do you think a camera's really gonna like deter people?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Well, I think if you, for instance, if you fall
asleep or if you're about to fall asleep, I think
there's a reflexive action when your seat starts buzzing and
you can start hearing flashing alerts. So so yes, and
I think this is also the beginning of the technology technology.
So exactly what to do when we understand what the
(09:35):
driver's doing is something we're going to continue to study
and get more effective at. But for right now. We
don't have a particular code for picking your nose though.
That's probably just a bad look. I would maybe maybe
not do that.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Yeah. Yeah, Like I said, I that's part of the
reason I enjoy doing it is because you catch some
really funny stuff. Okay, so there's a camera you talking about. Well,
I know what you mean when you say buzzing the
seat because mine does that. If I'm got it reverse
and something.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Say one thing about that seat buzz. That seat buzz
is actually a alternative to the set the vehicle making
sound or making beeps, So it's meant to be a
little more private. So if maybe you hit a lane,
the whole car doesn't mean to know you you hit
a lane, right, it's a buzz in your seat, So
it's it's actually not meant to increase the number of alerts.
(10:26):
It's just an alternative to to audio alerts.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yeah, and a nicer one to be honest. Yeah, what
about I know my mind has the little light on
the dash because I have the sensor that tells how
closer far I am from the car in front of me.
Would that also be something that would be used where
it flashes red?
Speaker 2 (10:46):
You know, right, Yeah, So we have something called a
vehicle ahead indicator and that's helpful for our Ford collision alerts.
So if you're getting close to it, that this vehicle.
So what this means is that the vehicle knows that
there's a vehicle in front and it's letting you know that.
So if you get if you start really getting close
to it very quickly, it can start to plaster. There's
also other things that are happening on the windshield to
(11:08):
help you to to look up. It's helpful to know
if you're in a certain kind of cruise control where
it'll you know, change its its speed to the vehicle
in front. And so if you know that, if you
know there's a vehicle in front, then then you know
when that vehicle stops, you can be much more sure
that your vehicle, your vehicle is going to stop. So
it's important to know that the vehicle knows that there's
(11:28):
a vehicle in front, and it's just a little extra
confidence for the for the driver. But the driver always
needs to be paying attention and is and is ultimately
in control of the vehicle. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I like that. I like that, And now I'm gonna
confess this too. I shouldn't do this, but I'm doing
it anyway. I also have the adaptive cruise control like
you're talking about. And during COVID, I moved further away
from the big city where my office is. And when
I say further away, it's like a two hour drive.
(11:59):
And I still have to go in the office on occasion,
and when I do that, obviously it's a long drive.
And one day I decided, with nobody on the highway
because I have to leave it like two or three
in the morning, that I would test out the lane
feature that keeps you in your lane, you know what
I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
What's that called lane?
Speaker 1 (12:20):
That one? And so I just didn't touch my wheel.
I had my cruise control set and I didn't touch
my Now, I had my hands right there. Okay, don't
don't try any of this home, but I had my
hands ready, you know, in case it didn't work. I
went for several miles with the car keeping me in
the lane, even as the highway you know meandered up
(12:41):
the way it went. And then finally, I've named my
car Elvira. Elvira was like, look here, and she starts
flashing the lights and buzzing my seat, and she's like,
you need to touch the wheel, and it even said
that on the dash, and I think that was so genius, Like,
I mean, you know, when your car talks to you,
it's it's kind of fun. It's like night Rider when
I kid.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, Well, I think the how long you can do
that without getting a warning does somewhat is somewhat impacted
by how much the lane is turning. But that's not
the intended use. We don't want to start screaming at
drivers right right away because that's not fun. But I'm
glad the vehicle eventually requested that you take over. Now,
(13:22):
we do have a feature where you are supposed to
take your hands off the wheel and feed off the pedals,
and it uses that same camera just to make sure
that you're paying attention. So really that will let you. Yeah,
so that's called super Cruse and so essentially it's an
intended version of what you did. And so there's a
nice lide on the steering wheel, which is green when
you're paying attention. When you stop paying attention, it'll start
(13:44):
to flash. You get your attention, and if you continue
to not pay attention, then the vehicle will eventually come
to a stop and you'll be locked out of that feature.
But it works great if you use it as intended,
you relax and look forward and monitor what's happening. It
can change lanes for you. So that's that's a really
cool feature. And it's called again it's level two, which
(14:05):
means that the driver is still in the loop, still
needs to pay attention, and that's why that camera is
there in the first place. So we're reusing it for
manual driving.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Okay, but that still doesn't mean you can dig around
on the floorboard or turn around and scold your children
or you know those other things.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Right now, Well, if you if you look away long enough,
it's then it'll start to flash, and that means it's
going to shut down eventually. So no, that's that's discouraged.
You should still pay attention like you're doing manual driving,
but it doesn't mean it's going to shut off if
you just look away for a second or so. It
gives you a little bit of time, but it is
encouraged that you are very attentive to what the vehicle's
(14:44):
doing because because again you can take over at any time.
You don't have to like press the button to take over.
You take over in the vehicle. Let's you steer, let's
lets you break. So you need to be ready to
take over at any time, because again, this is a
level two feature, which means that we're not confident enough
that it can handle every circumstance in that in that area.
So so we do expect drivers to take over if
(15:05):
they feel uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, definitely. Can we talk about you made the statement
that some of the most common distracted driving is things
like digging around in the glove box or the floorboard
or whatever. Can we talk about some of the different
ways people are distracted some of the less thought of
ways as well.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Right, So, the phone is kind of like the mascot
of distraction, and I think it deserves it because people
do go to the phone a lot. So the phone
is used quite quite often, and it's and it's you
know this, it's kind of this cultural phenomenon, and so
people all all know the phone. Everyone is kind of
maybe slightly addicted to their phone. But it's not what
It's not so much the phone that causes the problem.
(15:49):
It's this thing that the phone makes you do. Maybe
I talked a little bit about this earlier, but it's
this looking at the phone for a long period of
time and then having the short on road glands, and
so what you're doing with that short road glances, you're
not really filling up, you know, if we want to
think about it that way, your situational awareness. You're just
getting kind of a slight idea of what's going on
in front of you. And if you don't have a
full idea of what's going on in front of you,
(16:10):
then it's more likely that something a little chaotic, something unexpected,
you know, runs out in front of you and you
won't be ready. But if you're looking at the forward
scene for a long period of time, you see that pedestrian,
you see some of those break lids, you know something
is going to get slower here in the next few moments.
You see someone trying to pull out of McDonald's or
(16:31):
or whatever. And so it's very important to before you
ever take your eyes off the road, and we all
need to at least i mean, even for the mirrors,
right or if we're going to you know, interact with
the center stack for a short period of time, it's
always important first to get a really good understanding of
what's going on out in front of you, and when
you take a short off for a glance, then go
(16:52):
back and refill that understanding. And if you kind of
have the discipline to do that, you are going to
be driving so much more safely. But if you're happy
with just this kind of short on road glance, you
are putting yourself at a lot of risk.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
And a lot of this has to do with the
curvature of the road and the amount of traffic too, right,
I mean, those are factors that can add to all that.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Right, So, I think one thing that perhaps more experienced
drivers understand is that and this has played out in
the data that when teens have secondary tasks, they're more
likely to get and crash than more experienced drivers. And
part of that is, you know, more of the driving
is automated, we don't have to think about it so
(17:40):
much if you're experienced. But also part of that is
understanding when is a good time to maybe do that
off road glance. And so these off road glances should
always be short. But there's a big difference if you're
going around a roundabout and you know San Francisco VERSUS
South Dakota and there's no one near you for one
hundred miles right right, and so there are it's we
(18:00):
do talk about the crowded, but the football field and
how crowded and how far you go. Not all football
fields are the same. Some are much more crowded than others.
So it's important to think about. You know, there's a
lot of chaos in front of you, a lot of breaking,
then that's a great time to just keep looking forward. Now,
if there's a lot of clear area in front of
you and there's something you need to take care of,
then maybe that's a better time to do it. And
(18:23):
experienced drivers are a little better at this kind of
judgment than new drivers.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah, I think that's true. And I mean, like you said,
it could be anything. It could be a dog running
out or a kid running out in front of you.
It could be you the bottom of your fast food
cub just exploded and now you're sitting in sweet tea, Like,
there's so many things that can go wrong.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
And yeah, just to kind of make a point here,
the origins of Distracted Driving Awareness Month was a girl
on a bike getting fatally struck in her neighborhood. And
so I don't think the driver necessary thought of themselves
as a bad driver. Or a super distracted driver. But
whatever kind of careless section they took that that they
(19:06):
led to the death of a little girl. And so
there are very serious consequences if you if you get
it wrong. So just something something as simple as that.
I think it's important to put our minds, put our
you know, put ourselves in the place of that driver,
because we could all be that driver.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Yeah, definitely, No, most definitely. So what I don't know.
I don't know if you have this information or are
allowed to share this information, but I'm gonna ask it anyway.
Is there any new technology? I mean, you talked about
the camera that's gonna kind of watch us to kind
of feel us out for being drowsy or distracted. Is
(19:43):
there any other new technology that we might be seeing
in the future.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Well, I think another promising trend is the adoption of
advanced voice assistance. So, uh, this is being able to
talk to the car now naturally and getting things done directly.
So I think we're all a lot of us are
probably familiar with Bluetooth, where we can make a call
we say, call mom, and or we can get a
(20:09):
call from mom and take it with just a pressing
a button on a steering wheel. But these voice assistants
allow us to do things maybe like control the vehicle temperature,
allow us to get you know, directions, you know, take
me to the nearest coffee shop, and it'll just kind
of show you what that is immediately without having to
you know, touch the center stack. You know, you can
(20:31):
get that exact content you want, that exact podcast you want,
by by asking about it. And so I think more
and more, you know, we're going to be able to
use We're going to be able to talk to the
vehicle as opposed to looking at the vehicle and taking
our hands off the wheel to get the kinds of
information and entertainment we want. And I think that's a
really promising trend. And so what that means is, you know,
(20:54):
start to get familiar with what's in your car, so
you may have something like a voice assistant or at
least bluetooth. Think make it a challenge to figure out
as much to figure out all the things you can
do while keeping your hands on the wheel and eyes
on road. You know, those are some great skills to foster.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
And learn, right and and the limitations up until now,
at least on that technology, I assume has to do
with things like me before I got into media, when
I sounded like Theys and my whole family tat like
Theys and and it's accents and regional dialects and stuff
like that that were kind of throwing a wrench in it.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Right, Well, I think, you know, thick accents or accents
that are a little less common are going to be
a little less well trained. But these voice assistants are
getting quite smart and have a lot more tolerance for
variations and speech than they once did. So I would
(21:55):
suggest if you maybe had a terrible experience ten years
ago or so, that you may maybe try it again,
and I think you'll find that they've gotten a lot better.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah. Well, I mean, I know the bluetooth and stuff
has already gotten a lot better, but I know, you know,
the more commands you offer, the more it has to
be able to recognize the different ways, like the way
we do things, because like the name Regina back in
the day, my bluetooth would call it Regina, you know,
(22:24):
And I don't know that that part has been fixed yet,
but you know, I assume those are the things that
are coming and probably with the help of AI.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Right, absolutely, Yeah, these Advanced Voice assistants certainly are boosted
by AI. And you know that those those kind of
models are are great at, you know, deciphering different kinds
of speech, different languages. So I think even with charming,
thick accents, you will not be excluded from this this enhancement.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Well that's good because I remember in Detroit when I
lived there, they went to the de actor and I
was like, what in the world is a doctor? But
it's a doctor.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
I haven't heard that one.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
You haven't heard that yet? Yeah, And tacos. They like
to eat tacos on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Now. I know when our Canadian friends come down because
I hear the boot and everything else is the same us. No,
I haven't heard doctor yet.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah. My son in law's in Toronto and he's got
the a you know. So I have a question about that.
If we let's say I buy a car and I'm
in Virginia, and I train my voicing to recognize my accent,
you know, for whatever that is wherever I am, and
then I sell my car to somebody in I don't know,
(23:41):
somewhere else with a different accent Baltimore or something like that, right,
And they some of them have really strong accents that
are completely different. Do you have to retrain the entire
voice thing? Does it automatically adapt.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Do you know? I know? I think yeah, I think
these It depends on how localized it is. Now, if
this is something that's mainly running in the vehicle, it
could be that there's an adaptation period. If it's something
that's mainly running kind of in a cloud, then it's
going to be a much bigger model and wouldn't be
as effected by differences in speech. So, but in either case,
(24:17):
the adaptation should not take long.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Okay, Now we've talked a lot about all the technology
and stuff that's in these cars. It really is there
to help and add safety layers and whatnot. What about
for people who are driving much older vehicles who don't
have all of this, what safety tips can we offer
to them?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, this applies to everybody. It's when we get into
the vehicle. I think we have this urge to just
zip away, particularly maybe younger people in the middle of
their careers, and maybe they have kids and time is
so limited. But I think we can all spare forty
seconds when we get into the vehicle to think about
(24:59):
what can we do really well, when the vehicle stopped,
and so maybe that's responding to an email. Maybe that's
just queuing up your audio. It's uh, you know, it's
giving the kid in the back seat a book so
they demand bless of you as you're going down down
the road. This doesn't mean that distractions won't come in,
but you can get rid of a lot of them
just by being set up before you go, and that
(25:21):
will increase the safety of your drive and you'll just
be more relaxed. You can have more fun driving listening
to your audiobook or podcast, and you won't be so distracted.
You'll catch more of it. And I think if you
make this a habit, I think it'll it'll pay a
lot of dividends. It'll pay off in the future, and
it also teach, you know, those who are younger than
you and watching you, what a responsible way to drive is,
(25:44):
how to set up your drive.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, definitely. Now do you recommend maybe holding off on
eating or at least don't eat that salad or use
that dipping cup.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Or you know, well, yeah, it's that's funny. So I
think there are various stories on just how dangerous eating is,
and in that that large Virginia Tech study. If it's
one handed, it seems to be not a major risk. Uh,
you know, it doesn't doesn't increase risk by a by
a whole lot. We tend to be pretty good at
finding the drink and kind of getting it to our
(26:15):
face without looking off too much. But what I what
I would suggest is, you know, be be mindful for
kind of when you're when when when you are grabbing something.
So if you're in a complicated scenario, maybe that's not
the right time to grab your drink. It's never a
right time to have two hands on a hamburger. So
I think, you know, let let the drive beat be first,
(26:38):
and if there's some calm moments and maybe that's the
right time to find your French fry or or whatever.
And we do have we do have cup holders, so
we say we.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Right, okay, So how do we get people to step
away from the mindset that it won't happen to me,
because you know, that's a big deal with a lot
of people are like, well, yeah, that happens, but that
will happen to me.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
That man, I wish, I wish I had kind of
the full answer answer to that. I think education I
think there there needs to be an understanding that, you know,
really terrible things can happen to very normal, very you know,
typically responsible people, and so I think the more they're
exposed to that, I would I would say that if
(27:25):
you know, laws do have some effectiveness, and especially those
where people can be pulled over just based on texting alone.
It's not coupled with with another offense, more more enforcements.
So that way, maybe there's a friend that you can
talk to said, I mean, I had to pay a
couple of hundred dollars and I got some points taken
off my license. If they heard those kinds of stories
(27:48):
more often, I think that would uh go quite far
and deterring people and making them a little less comfortable
interacting with their phone, are doing distracted things. I think
we're pretty good with alcohol. We we feel pretty bad
up we're drunk driving and that has a very strong
tat taboo associated. It would be nice if we can
work towards something closer to that level of taboo while
(28:09):
using the phone.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Yeah, I agree with that. We're coming up to the
end of our time, but I want to ask you
one final question and then give you an opportunity to
push any websites or anything like that that you can
offer us. The question is, I'm just curious, and you're
the expert. Is there anything the audience needs to know
that I didn't ask you about.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
You did a great job. I think probably just skip
to the to the link part I. There. There is
a lot of information about what what GM does in
GM dot com. There's also these really nice animations in
terms of how our features work and the various brand sites,
so Buick dot com, Chebby dot com, and that really
(28:50):
kind of gives you an understanding of how the system
works and how the safety systems work.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Okay, awesome, all right, So those websites one.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
More time, uh com, and then we have things like
Chevy dot com, Buick dot Com, Cadillac dot Com, GMC
dot com. Those are our brands, okay.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
And then just look for like the safety section maybe.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Safety sections, and if you're interested in a car, you
can can scroll around and you should eventually find things
about about safety and hopefully you'll get some animations about
how the safety systems work and how you know, supercrews
works and things like that.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Right right, okay, awesome, Well, thank you so much for
your time today and for entertaining all my crazy questions.
I really appreciate.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
It, had a good time. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
I hope you've enjoyed today's show. Thanks for tuning into
the show on your favorite local radio station. You can
now listen to this show or past shows through the
iheartapp or on iHeart dot com. Just search for Virginia
Focus under podcasts. I'm Rebecca Hughes with the Virginia News
Network and I'll be here next week on Virginia Focus.
Welcome to Virginia Focus. I'm Rebecca Hughes of the Virginia
News Network. People are dying on our roadways, and it's
not just a US problem. It's a global issue that
continues to claim thousands of lives each year. Admitted or not,
most of us are addicted to our phones. Your crash
risk increases from between two to six times higher when
(00:27):
you use a phone behind the wheel. On this episode,
we're talking to Dan Glazer, General Motors Driver distraction engineer
to get some tips on how to break bad habits
and stay safer. Thank you for coming on the show today.
I'm so glad that you could make time for us.
I know distracted driving is something that I think, whether
we like to admit it or not, everyone is guilty
(00:48):
of it. Would you agree?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I totally agree we could all be better.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Right, Why don't we start by telling the audience some
of your credentials. I know you're a safety expert with GM,
but ill you tell us a little bit about how
you got into this position?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Right? Well, in school, I was a psychology major and
I wanted to be a little more hands on, and
I was really interested in technology, so I ended up
going the route of computer human interaction and so this
is the study of how humans interact with machines. I
(01:23):
did a bit with some medical equipment, but I eventually
got a call or a request for employment from General
Motors and it was to be a in the kind
of driver distraction field, become the driver distraction expert for
General Motors. And it was also during a time that
(01:43):
jobs weren't so you know, available, So I took that
opportunity to go from Texas and go up north where
there are seasons. And I've been at General Motors ever since.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Okay, so you get to play in the winter in Detroit,
that's what you're saying, right.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I do. I got to learn skiing.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Oh nice, Nice, that's awesome. I lived up there for
a little while, and I grew up in Georgia, and
I'll never forget the first time I saw the dry
snow because I thought that literally did not exist. I
thought that was just for movies, and so I was
so excited.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, the first year at snowed in September and I
was a bit shell shocked. Yeah, yeah, what is going on?
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, And I'm sure you've gotten used to the two
seasons construction and Winter absolutely, yes, yeah, okay, well it
sounds like you landed a really great job being the
earback on this psychology. I love that. I think those
two things are amazing to put together. What would you
say to the person who when you say have you
ever driven distracted? And they go no, I don't do that? Like,
(02:46):
how do you get through to them that, yeah, you did.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well. Don't want to be mean and forceful about it,
but I think it's important to just identify that, you
know what, even the shortest glances, ill timed can lead
to these devastating consequences. I've had the privilege, I guess,
of seeing lots of footage of distracted drivers. So Virginia
(03:12):
Tech did ran a very large study where there were
thirty one one hundred drivers. They all volunteered and we
were able to kind of, you know, look after them
for about a year. And you would think that because
they were being monitored that they didn't do naughty things,
which is not true. They quickly got used to having
cameras there and did all kinds of things they shouldn't
(03:33):
be shouldn't be doing. But you know, we could see
just the shortest offer glance at the wrong time, maybe
at a billboard or or something else led to a crash,
and when they were asked about it later, they had
no idea what led to their crash or that they
were distracted. So I think it's important when we're on
the road to really think about how we're taking our
(03:55):
eyes off the road and not be casual about it.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
And I love that you brought up the virgin Tech
study because obviously this is Virginia focus and the state
of Virginia. Every year, at least as long as I've
done news for Virginia, which is about five years now,
every year they land in the top five of most
aggressive drivers, not just distracted, but aggressive and stuff like that.
(04:22):
And you know, I try to do a lot of
those stories to kind of educate people, and you know what,
you only can control what you can control, you know,
but driving is one of those things that really gets
to people.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Aggressive driving is is also a major problem. If it
doesn't go exactly how you think it's going to go,
you're likely going to get into a crash. So yeah,
it's important to stay calm out there.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, definitely. So in your research, why don't you tell
us a little bit about the things that you've done
and seen and learned.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Right. Well, I've done a fair bit at GM in
terms of trying to revamp labs so that when we
assess our applications that you know, we have a fair
bit of certainty that that's how people are going to
act on the road. So we've done a lot of
research with Virginia Tech to help make sure that when
(05:21):
we're seeing when when we have people do our tasks
in a lab, that the amount of eyes off road
behavior is similar to what we see when we have
them go out on a road. And so that's that's
been a really good and you know, enhancement to our
to our lab environment. But one thing for sure that
it's kind of coming up these days is the ability
(05:44):
to detect the driver and what they're doing in real
time and being able to do something about it. So
in the last few years, in model year twenty four,
we did start introducing a new feature called Driver Attention
Assist and this uses a camera on top of the
steering wheel, the same as our super crews hands off driving,
(06:06):
but you have to pay attention tech technology, and this
camera doesn't take video and store video and share video.
If that's where people's minds kind of naturally go, but
rather it can identify a scene and say, hey, you
know what, the driver's eyes are closing a lot. It
looks like maybe they're about to fall asleep, they're yawning.
(06:28):
Let's react in real time to help wake that driver up.
Same thing with distraction. If they're looking at the screen
or doing something looking off the road for a long
period of time, we can remind them to look back up.
So this is the start of I think, you know, reacting,
understanding what the driver's doing, and reacting to their needs
in real time. And this is and this is a
(06:49):
new avenue of technology that I think has a lot
of promise.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Okay, so I drive a GMC to rain. I think
mine's a twenty twenty, and I have the lane assist feature.
That's not what we're talking about, right, This looks this
is a camera aimed at the driver.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yes, yes, it's aimed aimed at the driver. So it
mainly detects their their head and there's lots of clues
in terms of the state of the driver based on
their head, where their eyes are. Again, they're their eye closure,
how much they're closing their eyes, if they're yawning, there
are also other other little clues kind of kind of
some of it's kind of a black box. But yes,
it can't analyze those signals and make and that camera
(07:29):
can tell the vehicle, hey, let's do something to help
this driver looks like they're they're kind of going off
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
So what kind of things would it do.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Well, It might be that they're looking at their phone
for a long time, or that they're looking down, rummaging
around on the ground for a long time. These things
are associated with a lot of increased risk, even more
than say, say texting. Rummaging around and rubber necking is
actually associated with more risks than texting. Similarly, if if
someone's been on a drive for a long time and
(08:00):
we are seeing again that they're getting a little in
their face, that their eyes aren't just open, they're starting
to close fully and for longer periods of time, we
can then make a judgment that hey, this driver looks
like they're on their way to fall asleep, and we
can do things to help limit the chances that that happened,
through seat vibrations, through alerts, and so this is I've
(08:25):
always felt that once we put a camera in the vehicle,
that no one should be falling asleep in the car
because we can see them, and so I'm happy to
finally bring that you promise to two GM products.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Okay, so I love that. I love your thought process.
But let's be real for a second. I don't know
about you. I love looking in other people's cars while
I'm driving. I know that's weird, but I do because
you see the funniest things, Like if you've ever passed
somebody when they're in the middle of a yawn, that
is the most funny thing I've ever seen in my life.
But you'll see so many people picking their nose, like
(09:04):
just digging on up in there, and I can see you. So, well,
do you think a camera's really gonna like deter people?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Well, I think if you, for instance, if you fall
asleep or if you're about to fall asleep, I think
there's a reflexive action when your seat starts buzzing and
you can start hearing flashing alerts. So so yes, and
I think this is also the beginning of the technology technology.
So exactly what to do when we understand what the
(09:35):
driver's doing is something we're going to continue to study
and get more effective at. But for right now. We
don't have a particular code for picking your nose though.
That's probably just a bad look. I would maybe maybe
not do that.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Yeah. Yeah, Like I said, I that's part of the
reason I enjoy doing it is because you catch some
really funny stuff. Okay, so there's a camera you talking about. Well,
I know what you mean when you say buzzing the
seat because mine does that. If I'm got it reverse
and something.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Say one thing about that seat buzz. That seat buzz
is actually a alternative to the set the vehicle making
sound or making beeps, So it's meant to be a
little more private. So if maybe you hit a lane,
the whole car doesn't mean to know you you hit
a lane, right, it's a buzz in your seat, So
it's it's actually not meant to increase the number of alerts.
(10:26):
It's just an alternative to to audio alerts.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yeah, and a nicer one to be honest. Yeah, what
about I know my mind has the little light on
the dash because I have the sensor that tells how
closer far I am from the car in front of me.
Would that also be something that would be used where
it flashes red?
Speaker 2 (10:46):
You know, right, Yeah, So we have something called a
vehicle ahead indicator and that's helpful for our Ford collision alerts.
So if you're getting close to it, that this vehicle.
So what this means is that the vehicle knows that
there's a vehicle in front and it's letting you know that.
So if you get if you start really getting close
to it very quickly, it can start to plaster. There's
also other things that are happening on the windshield to
(11:08):
help you to to look up. It's helpful to know
if you're in a certain kind of cruise control where
it'll you know, change its its speed to the vehicle
in front. And so if you know that, if you
know there's a vehicle in front, then then you know
when that vehicle stops, you can be much more sure
that your vehicle, your vehicle is going to stop. So
it's important to know that the vehicle knows that there's
(11:28):
a vehicle in front, and it's just a little extra
confidence for the for the driver. But the driver always
needs to be paying attention and is and is ultimately
in control of the vehicle. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I like that. I like that, And now I'm gonna
confess this too. I shouldn't do this, but I'm doing
it anyway. I also have the adaptive cruise control like
you're talking about. And during COVID, I moved further away
from the big city where my office is. And when
I say further away, it's like a two hour drive.
(11:59):
And I still have to go in the office on occasion,
and when I do that, obviously it's a long drive.
And one day I decided, with nobody on the highway
because I have to leave it like two or three
in the morning, that I would test out the lane
feature that keeps you in your lane, you know what
I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
What's that called lane?
Speaker 1 (12:20):
That one? And so I just didn't touch my wheel.
I had my cruise control set and I didn't touch
my Now, I had my hands right there. Okay, don't
don't try any of this home, but I had my
hands ready, you know, in case it didn't work. I
went for several miles with the car keeping me in
the lane, even as the highway you know meandered up
(12:41):
the way it went. And then finally, I've named my
car Elvira. Elvira was like, look here, and she starts
flashing the lights and buzzing my seat, and she's like,
you need to touch the wheel, and it even said
that on the dash, and I think that was so genius, Like,
I mean, you know, when your car talks to you,
it's it's kind of fun. It's like night Rider when
I kid.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, Well, I think the how long you can do
that without getting a warning does somewhat is somewhat impacted
by how much the lane is turning. But that's not
the intended use. We don't want to start screaming at
drivers right right away because that's not fun. But I'm
glad the vehicle eventually requested that you take over. Now,
(13:22):
we do have a feature where you are supposed to
take your hands off the wheel and feed off the pedals,
and it uses that same camera just to make sure
that you're paying attention. So really that will let you. Yeah,
so that's called super Cruse and so essentially it's an
intended version of what you did. And so there's a
nice lide on the steering wheel, which is green when
you're paying attention. When you stop paying attention, it'll start
(13:44):
to flash. You get your attention, and if you continue
to not pay attention, then the vehicle will eventually come
to a stop and you'll be locked out of that feature.
But it works great if you use it as intended,
you relax and look forward and monitor what's happening. It
can change lanes for you. So that's that's a really
cool feature. And it's called again it's level two, which
(14:05):
means that the driver is still in the loop, still
needs to pay attention, and that's why that camera is
there in the first place. So we're reusing it for
manual driving.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Okay, but that still doesn't mean you can dig around
on the floorboard or turn around and scold your children
or you know those other things.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Right now, Well, if you if you look away long enough,
it's then it'll start to flash, and that means it's
going to shut down eventually. So no, that's that's discouraged.
You should still pay attention like you're doing manual driving,
but it doesn't mean it's going to shut off if
you just look away for a second or so. It
gives you a little bit of time, but it is
encouraged that you are very attentive to what the vehicle's
(14:44):
doing because because again you can take over at any time.
You don't have to like press the button to take over.
You take over in the vehicle. Let's you steer, let's
lets you break. So you need to be ready to
take over at any time, because again, this is a
level two feature, which means that we're not confident enough
that it can handle every circumstance in that in that area.
So so we do expect drivers to take over if
(15:05):
they feel uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, definitely. Can we talk about you made the statement
that some of the most common distracted driving is things
like digging around in the glove box or the floorboard
or whatever. Can we talk about some of the different
ways people are distracted some of the less thought of
ways as well.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Right, So, the phone is kind of like the mascot
of distraction, and I think it deserves it because people
do go to the phone a lot. So the phone
is used quite quite often, and it's and it's you
know this, it's kind of this cultural phenomenon, and so
people all all know the phone. Everyone is kind of
maybe slightly addicted to their phone. But it's not what
It's not so much the phone that causes the problem.
(15:49):
It's this thing that the phone makes you do. Maybe
I talked a little bit about this earlier, but it's
this looking at the phone for a long period of
time and then having the short on road glands, and
so what you're doing with that short road glances, you're
not really filling up, you know, if we want to
think about it that way, your situational awareness. You're just
getting kind of a slight idea of what's going on
in front of you. And if you don't have a
full idea of what's going on in front of you,
(16:10):
then it's more likely that something a little chaotic, something unexpected,
you know, runs out in front of you and you
won't be ready. But if you're looking at the forward
scene for a long period of time, you see that pedestrian,
you see some of those break lids, you know something
is going to get slower here in the next few moments.
You see someone trying to pull out of McDonald's or
(16:31):
or whatever. And so it's very important to before you
ever take your eyes off the road, and we all
need to at least i mean, even for the mirrors,
right or if we're going to you know, interact with
the center stack for a short period of time, it's
always important first to get a really good understanding of
what's going on out in front of you, and when
you take a short off for a glance, then go
(16:52):
back and refill that understanding. And if you kind of
have the discipline to do that, you are going to
be driving so much more safely. But if you're happy
with just this kind of short on road glance, you
are putting yourself at a lot of risk.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
And a lot of this has to do with the
curvature of the road and the amount of traffic too, right,
I mean, those are factors that can add to all that.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Right, So, I think one thing that perhaps more experienced
drivers understand is that and this has played out in
the data that when teens have secondary tasks, they're more
likely to get and crash than more experienced drivers. And
part of that is, you know, more of the driving
is automated, we don't have to think about it so
(17:40):
much if you're experienced. But also part of that is
understanding when is a good time to maybe do that
off road glance. And so these off road glances should
always be short. But there's a big difference if you're
going around a roundabout and you know San Francisco VERSUS
South Dakota and there's no one near you for one
hundred miles right right, and so there are it's we
(18:00):
do talk about the crowded, but the football field and
how crowded and how far you go. Not all football
fields are the same. Some are much more crowded than others.
So it's important to think about. You know, there's a
lot of chaos in front of you, a lot of breaking,
then that's a great time to just keep looking forward. Now,
if there's a lot of clear area in front of
you and there's something you need to take care of,
then maybe that's a better time to do it. And
(18:23):
experienced drivers are a little better at this kind of
judgment than new drivers.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah, I think that's true. And I mean, like you said,
it could be anything. It could be a dog running
out or a kid running out in front of you.
It could be you the bottom of your fast food
cub just exploded and now you're sitting in sweet tea, Like,
there's so many things that can go wrong.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
And yeah, just to kind of make a point here,
the origins of Distracted Driving Awareness Month was a girl
on a bike getting fatally struck in her neighborhood. And
so I don't think the driver necessary thought of themselves
as a bad driver. Or a super distracted driver. But
whatever kind of careless section they took that that they
(19:06):
led to the death of a little girl. And so
there are very serious consequences if you if you get
it wrong. So just something something as simple as that.
I think it's important to put our minds, put our
you know, put ourselves in the place of that driver,
because we could all be that driver.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Yeah, definitely, No, most definitely. So what I don't know.
I don't know if you have this information or are
allowed to share this information, but I'm gonna ask it anyway.
Is there any new technology? I mean, you talked about
the camera that's gonna kind of watch us to kind
of feel us out for being drowsy or distracted. Is
(19:43):
there any other new technology that we might be seeing
in the future.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Well, I think another promising trend is the adoption of
advanced voice assistance. So, uh, this is being able to
talk to the car now naturally and getting things done directly.
So I think we're all a lot of us are
probably familiar with Bluetooth, where we can make a call
we say, call mom, and or we can get a
(20:09):
call from mom and take it with just a pressing
a button on a steering wheel. But these voice assistants
allow us to do things maybe like control the vehicle temperature,
allow us to get you know, directions, you know, take
me to the nearest coffee shop, and it'll just kind
of show you what that is immediately without having to
you know, touch the center stack. You know, you can
(20:31):
get that exact content you want, that exact podcast you want,
by by asking about it. And so I think more
and more, you know, we're going to be able to
use We're going to be able to talk to the
vehicle as opposed to looking at the vehicle and taking
our hands off the wheel to get the kinds of
information and entertainment we want. And I think that's a
really promising trend. And so what that means is, you know,
(20:54):
start to get familiar with what's in your car, so
you may have something like a voice assistant or at
least bluetooth. Think make it a challenge to figure out
as much to figure out all the things you can
do while keeping your hands on the wheel and eyes
on road. You know, those are some great skills to foster.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
And learn, right and and the limitations up until now,
at least on that technology, I assume has to do
with things like me before I got into media, when
I sounded like Theys and my whole family tat like
Theys and and it's accents and regional dialects and stuff
like that that were kind of throwing a wrench in it.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Right, Well, I think, you know, thick accents or accents
that are a little less common are going to be
a little less well trained. But these voice assistants are
getting quite smart and have a lot more tolerance for
variations and speech than they once did. So I would
(21:55):
suggest if you maybe had a terrible experience ten years
ago or so, that you may maybe try it again,
and I think you'll find that they've gotten a lot better.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah. Well, I mean, I know the bluetooth and stuff
has already gotten a lot better, but I know, you know,
the more commands you offer, the more it has to
be able to recognize the different ways, like the way
we do things, because like the name Regina back in
the day, my bluetooth would call it Regina, you know,
(22:24):
And I don't know that that part has been fixed yet,
but you know, I assume those are the things that
are coming and probably with the help of AI.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Right, absolutely, Yeah, these Advanced Voice assistants certainly are boosted
by AI. And you know that those those kind of
models are are great at, you know, deciphering different kinds
of speech, different languages. So I think even with charming,
thick accents, you will not be excluded from this this enhancement.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Well that's good because I remember in Detroit when I
lived there, they went to the de actor and I
was like, what in the world is a doctor? But
it's a doctor.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
I haven't heard that one.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
You haven't heard that yet? Yeah, And tacos. They like
to eat tacos on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Now. I know when our Canadian friends come down because
I hear the boot and everything else is the same us. No,
I haven't heard doctor yet.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah. My son in law's in Toronto and he's got
the a you know. So I have a question about that.
If we let's say I buy a car and I'm
in Virginia, and I train my voicing to recognize my accent,
you know, for whatever that is wherever I am, and
then I sell my car to somebody in I don't know,
(23:41):
somewhere else with a different accent Baltimore or something like that, right,
And they some of them have really strong accents that
are completely different. Do you have to retrain the entire
voice thing? Does it automatically adapt.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Do you know? I know? I think yeah, I think
these It depends on how localized it is. Now, if
this is something that's mainly running in the vehicle, it
could be that there's an adaptation period. If it's something
that's mainly running kind of in a cloud, then it's
going to be a much bigger model and wouldn't be
as effected by differences in speech. So, but in either case,
(24:17):
the adaptation should not take long.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Okay, Now we've talked a lot about all the technology
and stuff that's in these cars. It really is there
to help and add safety layers and whatnot. What about
for people who are driving much older vehicles who don't
have all of this, what safety tips can we offer
to them?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, this applies to everybody. It's when we get into
the vehicle. I think we have this urge to just
zip away, particularly maybe younger people in the middle of
their careers, and maybe they have kids and time is
so limited. But I think we can all spare forty
seconds when we get into the vehicle to think about
(24:59):
what can we do really well, when the vehicle stopped,
and so maybe that's responding to an email. Maybe that's
just queuing up your audio. It's uh, you know, it's
giving the kid in the back seat a book so
they demand bless of you as you're going down down
the road. This doesn't mean that distractions won't come in,
but you can get rid of a lot of them
just by being set up before you go, and that
(25:21):
will increase the safety of your drive and you'll just
be more relaxed. You can have more fun driving listening
to your audiobook or podcast, and you won't be so distracted.
You'll catch more of it. And I think if you
make this a habit, I think it'll it'll pay a
lot of dividends. It'll pay off in the future, and
it also teach, you know, those who are younger than
you and watching you, what a responsible way to drive is,
(25:44):
how to set up your drive.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, definitely. Now do you recommend maybe holding off on
eating or at least don't eat that salad or use
that dipping cup.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Or you know, well, yeah, it's that's funny. So I
think there are various stories on just how dangerous eating is,
and in that that large Virginia Tech study. If it's
one handed, it seems to be not a major risk. Uh,
you know, it doesn't doesn't increase risk by a by
a whole lot. We tend to be pretty good at
finding the drink and kind of getting it to our
(26:15):
face without looking off too much. But what I what
I would suggest is, you know, be be mindful for
kind of when you're when when when you are grabbing something.
So if you're in a complicated scenario, maybe that's not
the right time to grab your drink. It's never a
right time to have two hands on a hamburger. So
I think, you know, let let the drive beat be first,
(26:38):
and if there's some calm moments and maybe that's the
right time to find your French fry or or whatever.
And we do have we do have cup holders, so
we say we.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Right, okay, So how do we get people to step
away from the mindset that it won't happen to me,
because you know, that's a big deal with a lot
of people are like, well, yeah, that happens, but that
will happen to me.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
That man, I wish, I wish I had kind of
the full answer answer to that. I think education I
think there there needs to be an understanding that, you know,
really terrible things can happen to very normal, very you know,
typically responsible people, and so I think the more they're
exposed to that, I would I would say that if
(27:25):
you know, laws do have some effectiveness, and especially those
where people can be pulled over just based on texting alone.
It's not coupled with with another offense, more more enforcements.
So that way, maybe there's a friend that you can
talk to said, I mean, I had to pay a
couple of hundred dollars and I got some points taken
off my license. If they heard those kinds of stories
(27:48):
more often, I think that would uh go quite far
and deterring people and making them a little less comfortable
interacting with their phone, are doing distracted things. I think
we're pretty good with alcohol. We we feel pretty bad
up we're drunk driving and that has a very strong
tat taboo associated. It would be nice if we can
work towards something closer to that level of taboo while
(28:09):
using the phone.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Yeah, I agree with that. We're coming up to the
end of our time, but I want to ask you
one final question and then give you an opportunity to
push any websites or anything like that that you can
offer us. The question is, I'm just curious, and you're
the expert. Is there anything the audience needs to know
that I didn't ask you about.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
You did a great job. I think probably just skip
to the to the link part I. There. There is
a lot of information about what what GM does in
GM dot com. There's also these really nice animations in
terms of how our features work and the various brand sites,
so Buick dot com, Chebby dot com, and that really
(28:50):
kind of gives you an understanding of how the system
works and how the safety systems work.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Okay, awesome, all right, So those websites one.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
More time, uh com, and then we have things like
Chevy dot com, Buick dot Com, Cadillac dot Com, GMC
dot com. Those are our brands, okay.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
And then just look for like the safety section maybe.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Safety sections, and if you're interested in a car, you
can can scroll around and you should eventually find things
about about safety and hopefully you'll get some animations about
how the safety systems work and how you know, supercrews
works and things like that.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Right right, okay, awesome, Well, thank you so much for
your time today and for entertaining all my crazy questions.
I really appreciate.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
It, had a good time. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
I hope you've enjoyed today's show. Thanks for tuning into
the show on your favorite local radio station. You can
now listen to this show or past shows through the
iheartapp or on iHeart dot com. Just search for Virginia
Focus under podcasts. I'm Rebecca Hughes with the Virginia News
Network and I'll be here next week on Virginia Focus.
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