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Send this to a friend Print-friendly version Safe driving - it's your call Do distractions while driving cause more collisions? Cell phones and driving: safety tips Driving tips: using cellular telephones and other devices Past Articles Subscribe to our Healthlink newsletter

glanced away for just a split second. He came from out of nowhere! How could it have happened?

One of the leading causes of motor vehicle collisions is driver distraction, an activity or event that, even momentarily, causes a driver to lose focus on the task at hand. Drivers are often at a loss to explain the impact of a fleeting moment of inattentiveness: I glanced away for just a split second. He came from out of nowhere! How could it have happened?

Changing temperatures and road conditions in the winter can make staying focused even more of a challenge.

The challenge for drivers is to commit themselves fully to the driving experience. The operation of a motor vehicle is growing more complex and sophisticated with advanced in-vehicle electronic devices, "busy" landscapes (highway signage, video advertising signs) increasingly complex road design and architecture, and the ever-growing use of personal communication devices such as cell phones and electronic schedulers.

			Common driving distractions
			There are many things that can take your attention away from the road. It may surprise you to learn what some people do while driving! 1. Inside the car (situational) eating/drinking/smoking adjusting radio/cassette/CD/DVD, climate or other controls such as pedals or steering wheel moving objects in the vehicle (food containers, insects, etc.) talking with other people, especially if the driver turns to face those in the back seat using a cellular telephone, CB radio or other communication devices using in-vehicle navigation systems reading (including looking at a map, book, etc.) applying makeup/shaving using Internet, e-mail, fax, palm pilots, etc using night vision systems 2. Outside the car (environmental) watching a person, animal, object or event outside the vehicle weather conditions other vehicles 3. Inside the driver (psychological) worries or anxieties fatigue daydreaming

During rush hour, a city driver has to keep track of about 3,000 items, including traffic lights, other vehicles, passengers, pedestrians, as well as road and weather conditions. By comparison, a fighter pilot has about 300 items to keep track of during a regular, non-combat mission.

Driving a car, truck, bus or other motor vehicle carries with it an enormous responsibility to ourselves as drivers, to our passengers, and to other motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians sharing the road with us. There are inherent risks involved in driving, and we take measures to manage those risks. We enroll in driver education programs, buckle-up, drive sober, look first before we change lanes or enter a stream of traffic, think before we act.

Anything that distracts us from the ability to remain focused on the numerous, overlapping and critically important actions driving involves can have serious consequences.

A 2005 driver inattentiveness study in the U.S. identified driver distraction as a factor in an astonishing 78% of automobile crashes. This research found that the principal causes of inattentiveness contributing to crashes were:

• in-vehicle distractions, (like adjusting the radio or eating)
• passenger-related secondary tasks (primarily conversations), and
• the use of wireless devices (mostly cell phones).

A key discovery was that even momentary glances away from the roadway "potentially contribute to a much greater percentage of events than has been previously thought."

The alarming number of traffic crashes caused by driver distraction has prompted increasing attention from the general public, the media, legislators, injury prevention researchers and others. The first International Conference on Distracted Driving recently held in Toronto, explored what is known about the problem and how to deal with it effectively.

Conference speaker, Dr. Alison Smiley, a Toronto-based systems design engineer specializing in traffic safety, reported that distractions are not always related to activities such as talking on a cell-phone or inserting a CD into the player, or to environmental influences like visual distractions outside or inside the vehicle. Loss of focus and inattentiveness may result from thinking about things far removed from the driving task.

"We can be distracted by our own thoughts. As we are busy reviewing a conversation we had with our boss, we miss our intended exit," says Dr. Smiley. She explains that because of our inherent cognitive limitations, or the way our brains work, we can't consciously attend to two different tasks well at the same time. "When our mental attention is elsewhere, we can miss a vital signal like rail flashers at a crossing with no barriers or a STOP sign in a rural area, with tragic consequences."

Dr. David Strayer, a psychology professor at the University of Utah, told the Conference that one recent study showed that people who talk on their cell phones when driving are just as likely as drunk drivers to be in a crash. "The cell phone user was very comparable and in some cases more impaired than the drunk driver," he said. Cell phone drivers "look, but fail to see up to half of the information in the driving environment."

1. Be well rested before you leave; if you are tired or drowsy, think of alternatives to driving.



2. Avoid multi-tasking. Remember that good driving requires your full concentration. When you multi-task, you are more likely to make a driving error and you may be unprepared to respond to changes in road conditions or mistakes by other drivers.



3. Deal with potential distractions before or after your drive, such as eating, putting on make-up, combing your hair, reading, writing and checking your messages.



4. Recognize the risk of drinking a cup of coffee while driving; if you must, do so with extreme caution.



5. Be familiar with the controls in your car before you set out, including the radio and CD player.



6. Ask a front seat passenger to adjust the radio or CD player for you.



7. Keep the radio volume at a low level.



8. Pull over to deal with any distractions that can't wait, including looking at maps or taking an important phone call.



9. Ask passengers to avoid distracting you; if your kids don't co-operate, don't start the trip, and if you're already underway, pull over until they do co-operate.



10. Drive sober!

Remember that even if you drive without distractions, other drivers may not. Drive defensively and always be prepared in the event that another driver makes a mistake.

The prevention message is simple: stay focused, manage distractions wisely and pay attention.

There's a lot riding on it!