Do u turn down the vol on radio whenin car looking for an address?

[bluedolphin]

Do u turn down the volume of the radio in ur car if u are going slowly along a street looking for a house number or a business premisies???? Question is related to the ability to talk on a cell phone while driving.... I personally turndown the volume or tell everyone in the car to be quiet....How about U????

[luckystrike]

So do I, bluedolphin!

[andy hughes]

I do too. Re. mobile phones, I used to have a hands-free phone as part of my work, and take calls all day. occasionally, I would walk around our huge open-plan office while talking, and frequently bump into furniture and occasionally colleagues! There is something different about talking on a phone that makes your spatial awareness and general conversation disappear - I'm all in favour of banning use of mobiles.

[woofgang]

Yes, me too, I turn off the radio when I need extra driving concentration for any reason and ask passengers to be quiet...so does Mr Woofgang and he is an IAM and ROSPA advanced driver

[Hyphen]

Totally true. I'm glad I'm not the only one!!

[jennirj21]

Hi, I think this is a gender related thing. Women are less likely to turn the radio down than men.

[mully]

 Yep, do exactly the same when im with my partner and if we get lost,looking for a house number or looking on a map I always turn the volume down its now a habit I do it without thinking.

My mother always has to put on her glasses to listen to people- if she's took them off to clean or something she always says wait until I put my glasses back on before you can talk to her how bizzare is that !

[FP]

Yes, I turn it down as well in order to concentrate.   So does my husband.  In fact, my husband hates to talk whilst he is driving and it's very boring going on long journeys with him!

[cheyenne]

i dont mind the radio on if its not blasting out(note to my daughter)but if the kids start talking or decide its a good time to have an arguement,then it goes of and stays of.if im trying to find an address i dont want any kind of music on fullstop!!plus i always turn my phone of when im driving to.

[Greedyfly]

And do you know why - when the radio is at the volume where you need to turn it down to concentrate then it is obviuosly distracting you originally.

[bluedolphin]

Mully....what a really interesting mother u have!!!!

[Jules001]

I do too and I turn it off when I am parking.

[WaldoMcFroog]

I'm in the gang. As I've said before in relation to other questions, men's brains only have one language centre.

 

 If the radio is on, that occupies the language centre, but the driver needs his language centre to read the writing he's searching for, hence he turns it down. When driving down a motorway, there's very little need for reading - information that is on Motorway signs is deliberately brief - so the volume can be up much higher. Women have five language centres in their brains, and therefore much less likely to need to do this.

[zgma]

I don't turn it down when looking for an address.  I do turn it down when someone is talking - that's very distracting to me.

[booksworth]

I do the same - never analysed this before. I turn up the volume on motorways, but that's more to do with defeating the racket from the machinery. I don't have the radio on when there are passengers in the car - I would automatically shut out the radio, so there's no point. I think it was Polly Toynbee who said she kept a copy of "This Sceptred Isle" in the car. If I did that, I'd either jump every red light, or find I'd missed half a dozen changes of government and a couple of minor wars on every journey.