Distracted driving has been a topic of concern for some time, more so after Mississippi recently adopted a law that bans texting while driving.
And while cell phone use can be attributed to bulk of distracted driving events, U-Haul is currently offering a distracted driving course on their website that outlines the various other things that can take a driver’s attention off the road. Each was listed in one of four categories, manual, visual, cognitive and auditory. With the exception of cognitive, most of the distractions occur on a sensory level.
Outside of cell phone use, which was listed in just about every one of the four categories of distracted driving, various other things were listed as causes of distraction, including adjusting a GPS unit, looking at crash scenes or emergency vehicles on the side of the road, road rage, daydreaming and listening to the radio.
The course basically states that as long as you’re attempting to focus on something other than the road, your brain is only processing 50 percent of what’s going on around you.
Such distractions lead to what is deemed “inattention blindness.”
That means the billboard, favorite song on the radio, movie playing in the back seat for the kids or the text you just have to read are occupying half of your cognitive abilities. Your brain is then left with only half of its ability to discern what is going on along the roadways.
At the end of the course U-Haul provides several tips to avoid the temptation of becoming distracted.
Those tips range from applying makeup before getting in the car, programing the GPS unit before setting out for your destination, avoiding eating while behind the wheel and downloading a smart phone app that provides an automated response while you are driving.
To view the course for yourself visit http://myuhaulstory.com/distracted-driving/.