When you're driving do you chat with passengers in your car?

If there are passengers, how do you avoid it?

Just short answers

It depends. If I’m driving to a new place or there is some tension around an issue like having to merge, I will not. But if I am driving somewhere familiar, sure I’ll chat to the passengers.

Yes.

My crazy sister is a.pretty good driver, unless she’s talking. ... Then she kind of wanders on the road. And she talks constantly.

Yes. How can you not?

Depends on who the passenger is. If we’re friendly, yes, I’ll at least respond. If not so much, like giving someone a ride, then not so much.

Yes, I do.

Passengers in the car are very different than talking to people who are not in the car via cell phone while driving.

Still, both do take some attention away from the road, and some people can do it better than others. If my dad talks while driving he drives very slow, too slow, and is not as focused. It’s much worse now that he is older. We purposely limit conversation when he’s driving.

Sure. I have a teenager. Ignoring her is not an option. I do try to keep it to brief answers.

I never have passengers other than my wife and of course we talk. I keep my eyes on the road but we still chit chat..when I have one or more grand kids with me it’s unavoidable..just Uh huh / Yeah sure responses to typical kiddy questions. “Can I get a Sport drink Paw Paw?” “Can I get a beef jerky Paw Paw?” Short and terse is the best way to handle that and still concentrate on driving.

Yes. No problem. If I’m dealing with trying to find my way in an unfamiliar place, I may hope that my one word responses to my passenger will drop a hint if they’re rambling on about something. Most people I know are aware that if we’re lost, it’s not chat time, it’s concentrate time.

Occasionally my daughter will talk a lot and I’ll just want to listen to music, but I try to be patient and listen to her.

Once, I remember a long time ago, being lost and dealing with trying to figure out how to find my way, and dealing with a lot of traffic, and a friend was in the car going on and on and on about some issue. She had anxiety and I tried to listen to her, and respond, but I really felt like saying “can you please shut the fuck up for ten minutes so I can concentrate?”

Lol @jca2

I don’t usually but I will start a conversation if I’m feeling tired to help keep me alert.

I’m surprised Dutch. I know just as with me, you must have extensive experience piloting carloads of kids. In fact, I don’t know how any parent can avoid the role of driver/referee.

Haha! When I had 4 teenagers boys living with me and I had to drive them somewhere they always made Zach sit in the middle. Reason was when they got rowdy in the car and didn’t stop when I told them to I’d just reach blindly into the back seat and whack someone….the person on the middle was always the one to get whacked because it was the only one I could reach, never taking my eyes off the road.

The daycare followed voice commands, never taking my eyes off the road.

Too many people tend to look at you when they’re talking to gage your reactions. To do that they have to take their eyes off the road.

Yes, I do. But certainly not big sweeping emotional ones. Just chit chat.

Of course. Unless it is with someone that has OPD

I’m usually alone in my vehicle, so passengers (with the exception of my wife) are a bit of a distraction. I’d much rather listen to music than chat.

I’m like @janbb. Only when I’m on a straight road or highway and I know where I’m going. When it’s unfamiliar I ask whoever I’m with that I need to concentrate on the road and I may ask for their assistance if the road is too congested. So they will be my co-pilot and only talk when giving me directions because I really have to concentrate on my driving more than my destination so they will look at the GPS and give me warning if my exit is coming up and I need to move over.

But when its going to familiar spots then I will talk while driving. I will also take calls on my car hand free system then but not if I’m in an unfamiliar spot. Then I will ignore calls.