(And if you can't do that safely, given the size and consistent location of the button, you probably shouldn't have a license anyways)
Which is precisely what the app encourages people to do.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/8135f446be2e4922b27dc3881155e...
I'm calling shenanigans anyways. What on earth is the driver doing for those 27 seconds? How are they determining "full attention"?
"Attention" isn't a binary; it's a gradient from full attention to no attention at all.
"With researchers in the car, the drivers were tested for the extent of their distraction, even as they kept their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel after hitting a voice-command system button. A head-mounted LED light flashed red every three to five seconds at the edge of a driver’s left eye. Drivers pressed a switch attached to a thumb when they saw the light. The researchers measured how voice interactions with a car or smartphone reduced drivers’ reaction times and accuracy at seeing the flashing lights. The drivers also completed surveys about their perceived level of distraction, and videos measured how much of the time they kept their eyes on the road, mirrors or dashboard."
The description in the article suggests that the time was counted from the start of the voice command action.
That's not correct. "The most surprising finding was that a driver traveling only 25 mph continues to be distracted for up to 27 seconds after disconnecting from highly distracting phone and car voice-command systems, and up to 15 seconds after disconnecting from the moderately distracting systems."
Most of the rest are fine.
And it is relevant to you no matter what lane you are in. If there is a car on the shoulder, someone in the right lane could be not paying attention, and swerve into you to avoid that car. Though you should be always on high alert while driving, having a little extra notification and awareness could save your life.
Then on 101 they'd still be a lane or two away from me, so most of the time it doesn't matter. But someone's car is guaranteed to be broken down somewhere every day, so it just comes up all the time.
BTW, you actually can't turn it off without disabling all Hazards, but the rest of them like "object in lane" seem pretty good.
Are you actually arguing that drivers should have less information available to them?
Disclaimer: I use Waze and think it's fucking fantastic and do not understand this stupid brouhaha in this thread.
I'm arguing that drivers should be paying attention to operating their cars instead of their phones.