Marcel Just And The Science Behind Distracted Driving

United States. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. National Phone Survey on Distracted Driving Attitudes and Behaviors. Washington, DC, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2011.

In this article “Distracted Driving”, many distractions are mentioned other than just cell phone usage, such as changing the radio station or driving with kids in the back seat. It is stated that the dangers from distracted driving are because of the decrease in brain function and inability to pay full attention to the road. These practices lead to wrecks and in many cases death.

A piblic service anouncement, or PSA, can help reduce distracted drivers because teens can see what might happen to them if they drive distracted, will see the ramifictions that someone else has gone through because of distracted driving, and they can see professional views on what will happen.

12% of distracted drivers that get involved in fatal accidents are teens.If 16 year olds could not drive then there would be less accidents on the road. 16 year olds also cannot do a lot of things that adults can, this is for a reason and driving should be one of them.16 years old is too young to get a drivers license.

The use of pulling a phone out while driving , particularly for texting and during phone to ear conversations , cause visual , manual and cognitive distraction (Thompson 4 ). When drivers pull out their phones they are taking more than 50% of their attention away from the roads, for example some

“Distracted driving refers to any nondriving activity that takes motorists ' attention away from the safe operation of their vehicles” (Leone). Every time a driver gets in a vehicle and decides to use a cell phone to have a conversation, either talking or texting, they put themselves and others lives in danger. The convenience a cell phone and the capabilities they offer have made them a substantial distraction and a cause of significant source of vehicle accidents and fatalities. There are three different types of distractions: visual, manual and cognitive. Cell phone use is the most dangerous distraction because it involves all three different types of distraction and plays a part in the increasing issue of distracted driving. Even

Texting and driving is being blamed for most teen accidents in recent years when in fact there are many other reasons for these accidents that have been around for decades. Instead of addressing this problem as “distracted driving” and covering many of the reasons for these teen accidents it is being pin pointed on one activity, but by doing this, it is ignoring other issues that need to be considered. Pinpointing texting as the cause of more teen accidents is easier to do because the other driving issues are not as easily controlled, for example, radios, DVD players, GPS systems, food, and people. Texting and driving is not safe, but should we focus on it as a campaign when there are clearly other factors to consider such as vehicle components,

Using a cell phone while driving has become the biggest manual distraction while driving.  According to a study, conducted by The University of Utah (2013),

It is talked about all the time on the news or on social media, someone gets hurt or dies from being distracted while driving. Distracted driving should be avoided for many reasons. These reasons include, it is against the law, it is unsafe, and it has major consequences. Many people lose their lives to the hand of distracted drivers.

Recently, a nationally representative survey of distracted driving attitudes and behavior found that drivers under 25 are far more likely than older drivers to send text messages or emails while driving. Among 16-25 year old respondents, approximately 70% admitted to sending text messages or emails while driving compared to 14% of all respondents. And, while almost all drivers believe that sending text messages while driving is very unsafe, young passengers are more reluctant than older passengers to speak up if the driver is texting behind the wheel (Mayhew, 2013). A lot of scientific studies show that the human brain has trouble focusing on more than one thing at a time., but people stubbornly continue to do so and even believe that this shows we are exceptional individuals, and that we are fully capable of handling the stress of multitasking because we are all so important and indispensable. With this in mind, people really need to stop doing other tasks while

There are both cognitive and physical factors that contribute to accidents when drivers talk on their cell phones and/or text behind the wheel. The primary cognitive factor is that an individual’s attention is divided when he or she is paying attention to more than one thing at a time (Goldstein, 2011). For example, a driver’s attention is on the road and perhaps how far the car ahead of him/her is, but at the same time is also trying to read a text message on a cellular device. This divided attention reduces the reaction speed and driving performance of the driver because there are not as many cognitive resources available to focus his/her attention on the most important thing: driving. When the driver is processing

“A distracted driver may fail to see up to 50% of the available information in the driving environment. You may look but not actually “see” what is happening. Focus of the driver is not on the road or traffic and it becomes difficult to handle phone and vehicle at one time. Cell phones during driving also reduce the mental capacity of drivers as they fail to concentrate on minor or major activities happening around them. Cell phones distract drivers' attention resulting in comparatively slow response to traffic signals and other related traffic events. Studies have shown the fact that breaking reaction time is also slower while talking on a cell phone during driving. The perception, vision, general awareness, and concentration of the driver are impacted while communicating on a cell phone during driving. Especially during bad weather or driving on slippery roads, drivers engaging in conversation pay less attention to these areas increasing risks of fatal accidents.

Studies conducted from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety shows that using a cell phone while driving significantly impairs a driver’s reaction time and triples the risk of being involved in a crash or near-crash, and text messaging increases crash risk by a multiple of 8 for all ages (NHTSA, 2009). Situational awareness is significantly decreased while engaging in distracted driving, and in turn inattention blindness is increased drastically creating a potentially deadly situation on the roads. A driver who is multitasking has less brain function available and thus literally fails to see or pay attention to things that are squarely in the field of vision (Texting and Driving, 2010). On the other hand there are those that may be able to multitask successfully though the challenge is

This paper provides research data from five studies that examined the relationship between driving performance and participating in secondary tasks while operating a vehicle. The extracted data was used to compile the information used to create recommendations for policy makers regarding cell phone use while driving. A comparison and contrast of the research results regarding cognitive abilities affected, while distracted during cell phone use is provided. Additionally, based on gaps in current research, a description of the variables, populations, and situations for future research is addressed herein.

alone every year. The issue of driving while talking on a cell phone has become serious enough that five states have passed laws prohibiting this type of act and making it a primary offense to do so. Not only are drivers talking behind the wheel, but many have admitted to engaging in even more potentially dangerous behavior with their phones such as text messaging and surfing the internet. A distracted driver is a dangerous one. If you are focused on a conversation and your eyes are not on the road, drivers cannot be expected to make a quick and safe decision should the need for one arise. The behavior of a driver while using a cell phone has been compared to that of one driving while under the influence. Studies have shown that those who use a cell phone while driving are four times more likely to be involved in a crash than those who don’t.