Turning Head to Look at Backseat Passenger When Driving

It’s very unsafe driving while turning your head to look at a backseat passenger you’re talking to. Why do people do this?

It only takes a moment for something disastrous to happen – that could’ve been averted or at least minimized had the driver’s eyes been smack on the road.

These unsafe drivers often even stretch their neck to get a good look through the rearview mirror at a passenger they’re talking to.

Yes, I’ve been that passenger in the backseat.

Or, I was in the front seat and acutely aware that when the driver spoke to a backseat passenger, they actually turned their head to connect eyes.

I have a brother who drives this way. I’m sure he’s not unique with this dangerous and totally unnecessary habit.

I was also once in a car driven by a woman who was hired to drive me and my parents home from another brother’s mountain house — during a heavy snowfall.

While driving on a winding mountain road, this Talky Tina kept turning her head towards my father who was in the front seat.

You couldn’t pay me to even glance at a front seat, let alone backseat, passenger with whom I’m talking while I’m driving!

My eyes always stay smack straight ahead, continuously sweeping the scenery beyond the hood of my car, particularly oncoming traffic.

Head-on collisions between oncoming cars have by far the highest fatality rate).

Plus, I could be launching into a dissertation and STILL keep my face and eyes straight ahead the entire time. I call this bi-tasking.

A passenger in my car could have a raging bloody nose and I’d never know it because my eyes always stay affixed to the ROAD! Even when stopped at intersections, I just naturally keep my eyes on the roads.

It’s fair if you’re now thinking how unsafe a lot of talking is by a driver. I agree, and have cut back on this quite a bit.

But the thing about looking at your backseat (or front) passenger simply because you’re speaking to them or vice versa, actually makes no sense in a million years.

It makes sense if a driver needs to talk, ask a question or answer a question.

But when they yank their eyes off the road to look at a passenger for the sole reason of connecting eyes – well doggone, this completely lacks logic, not to mention is dangerous.

Some Frightening Facts

A vehicle going 60 mph covers 88 feet in one second. Now suppose you’re on the road, and drivers in the opposite direction coming at you are also going 60 mph.

If your car and theirs are 352 feet apart, it’ll take just two seconds for both vehicles to collide if they’re on a collision course.

These collision courses often occur due to multiple factors such as a tire blow-out, drunken driving, sleepy driving, texting while driving – and in some cases, the reason why someone crossed the median is never established.

Some drivers literally have their head turned for two seconds during conversation. But even if just for a “split second,” it takes only one second for the scene ahead to drastically change.

So if a southbound vehicle at 60 mph is 176 feet from a northbound vehicle at the same speed, they will pass by each other after only one second.

Remember, when drivers turn to look at passengers, it usually never takes under a second, and often can last two seconds, especially when trying to make eye contact to someone in the backseat. Good riddance.

Two seconds is a LONG time when the context is vehicular collisions.

 

 

NO Driving Instructor Would Endorse Driver Eye Contact with Passengers

One time I, along with my mother, were in the backseat of my brother’s car, and several times I saw his eyes meet mine through the rearview mirror as he talked to me.

You’re probably wondering why my eyes were waiting to be met by his.

It’s because I was monitoring how often he was pulling this incredibly risky move, because I couldn’t believe he was doing it.

Thus, whenever he addressed me or my mother, I looked at the rearview mirror.

I wanted to see if his inability or refusal to bi-task was as atrocious as I had suspected. I needed a confirmation. And I kept getting it, very unfortunately.

I certainly didn’t need to meet his gaze for any emotional or social reason. But I kept confirming it — because I was so unsettled by this stupid habit.

You may be wondering why I was in his car in the first place when I had a car and license to drive? The situation occurred numerous times whenever my parents and I had flown to Las Vegas where he lived.

You might be supposing that the driver looks so they could hear the backseat passenger clearly.

This supposition tanks because, as mentioned already, the head turn and eye contact occur when the driver is the speaker!

However, if they want the passenger to hear, they could speak louder or slower, rather than turn their head 90 degrees, let alone more, towards the backseat.

They can also cut back on the volume of talking, confining it to only essential.

Eventually I pointed the problem out to my brother. He didn’t respond much, if at all, if my memory serves me.

After that point I made sure never to put myself in a position where I had to depend on him to drive me.

What’s unsettling is that there are passengers who are perfectly okay with this form of unsafe driving.

They see nothing wrong with it and may not even be aware of it on a conscious level.

It’s hazardous enough when a driver turns to talk to a passenger upfront. This often happens even when the passenger (such as myself) never looks at the driver.

For example, I recently had to rely on an auto dealership’s shuttle service when my car was left there.

Every single time the driver, an older woman (experience doesn’t make you a good driver), spoke something, she turned her head 90 degrees towards me.

Not once had I looked back; it was like my neck was in a brace forcing my head straight ahead every single second.

Yet she kept turning her head throughout the several rides she had given me.

Good God, why did she feel a need to do this? So I could hear her? Not buying it. She heard me perfectly fine whenever I spoke while keeping my head and eyes on the road.

Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness, where she was also a group fitness instructor, she trained clients of all ages and abilities for fat loss and maintaining it, muscle and strength building, fitness, and improved cardiovascular and overall health. 

Top image: Freepik/standret