Mobi’s Deadlier Than You Think.

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Interesting experiment conducted tonight, I gave SSP a ride on Serenity, and I put the intercom to use. And proceeded to ride home like an IDIOT. I blew almost every start/stop, turns were like back in Feb., I was totally unsmooth. Dear reader, the overwhelming change here was the addition of the instant communication with my passenger, who I could not see. In a car, side-by-side, we have peripheral vision to assure us of the other rider’s attention to the same things. The passenger will generally stop talking during stressful moments, or add helpful advice if asked. Now I couldn’t see this person who was speaking to/with me. It was HUGELY disorienting in the most insidious way. Really folks, talking on a cellphone while driving, is far more dangerous than you think it is. Equivalent to 4 drinks? Double it. I would never ride without armor and helmet, but it’s like that. I’d never even sit in an airbag-equipped car w/o seatbelts, and have severe second-thoughts about riding in a non-airbag car w/o seatbelts. This is like cutting the belts and using them as blindfolds. I will keep the intercom for longer non-city rides: it is truly handy and for navigational purposes, an actual safety enhancement. But for putzing around? Never again. Don’t answer the call.

Update (2011): Having now had a BT headset in my helmet for a season, and ridden a 150 mile trip with an intercom and MJM behind me, I can say that the comm's contribution to this entry's events was lower than I thought.  Novel neighborhood, night time, and perhaps MJM's weighing 20-30 lbs less than SSP might've helped.  In any event, the intellectual interruption of an intercom is still much higher than you think, as is the hazard of telephony+driving.