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Distraction

Distraction - the facts

Driving requires full concentration. Anything that takes your eyes, hands, ears, or mind away from driving increases the risk of a crash. This can include phones, passengers, food, music, or even daydreaming.

The gist of it
  • Driver distraction is a major factor in many road crashes.
  • Driver distraction is often grouped into three main categories: visual distraction – taking your eyes off the road; manual distraction – taking your hands off the wheel; and cognitive distraction – losing focus on driving because your mind is distracted by conversations, noise, phones, or other activities.
  • Many vehicles now include built-in systems for phones, navigation, music, and messaging. While these systems may be safer than using a phone by hand, they are still a distraction and are best avoided while driving.
  • New technology is making it easier for police to identify and charge distracted drivers.

What are the common causes of distraction?

  • Mobile phones and other devices – including texting, calls, social media, taking photos, navigation, music, and messaging.
  • Other passengers – the risk of distraction increases with every peer-aged passenger in the car. Novice drivers with two peer passengers are around twice as likely to be involved in a serious crash.
  • Music and music devices.
  • Food and drink.
  • Scenery, billboard, crashes, or activity outside the vehicle.

The Issue - Driving while distracted can increase the risk of a serious crash because it affects:

  • a driver’s attention and concentration, which can lead to poorer decision-making.
  • a driver’s reaction times. Distracted drivers may brake later, miss traffic signals, drift within a lane, or fail to notice hazards in time.
  • a driver’s awareness of their surroundings. Distracted drivers often forget to check mirrors or miss important changes in traffic conditions.

Reducing the Risk

  • Mobile phones are a major distraction for drivers. In many places, it is illegal to use a handheld phone while driving, including texting, calling, or using apps
  • In many jurisdictions, novice drivers are not allowed to use any function of a mobile phone while driving, including hands-free calls, music, messaging, or navigation. Mobile phones can create multiple layers of distraction and temptation, even when they are not being held.
  • Some jurisdictions also place passenger restrictions on young and novice drivers because of the increased risk peer passengers can bring.
  • Drivers have the right to set rules in the vehicle, including who they will and will not give a ride to. Passengers should respect those rules and avoid behaviour that distracts the driver.

Research using brain scans found that talking on a phone while driving – even hands-free – can draw nearly 40% of mental resources away from the task of driving.

Phone conversations can reduce a driver’s ability to notice important visual and sound cues that may help avoid a crash. Research has also shown that the same parts of the brain needed for spatial awareness, navigation, and visual processing are being used during phone conversations instead of focusing fully on driving.

Even so, many drivers still underestimate the risks of distraction.

There are still many common myths about driver distraction, but the facts clearly show the risks.

Myth vs Fact

Fact

Driving already involves coordinating many tasks at once – steering, braking, checking mirrors, watching traffic, and responding to hazards. Distractions increase risk when a driver’s attention is pulled away from those driving tasks and focused elsewhere. The issue is not multitasking itself – it’s competing tasks outside the driving environment.

Fact

It is illegal to touch a mobile phone while stopped in traffic or at traffic lights. Drivers still need to stay alert and ready to react to changing traffic conditions, even when the vehicle is not moving.

Fact

If a driver looks away from the road for just two seconds, a vehicle travelling at 60 km/h can travel more than 33 metres. That is roughly one-third of a rugby field travelled without looking at the road.

Fact

Myth and Fact! It often depends on the passenger. Good passengers can help drivers by spotting hazards and pausing conversations during difficult traffic situations. However, distracting passengers can increase crash risk in similar ways to phone conversations.

Fact

Eating and drinking can reduce a driver’s control of the vehicle and delay reactions in an emergency. Spilling food or drink can also create sudden distraction that takes a driver’s attention away from the road.

Safety Checklist

Here are a few things you can do to stay focused and reduce driver distraction.

  1. Speak up. Drivers should let passengers know when behaviour is becoming distracting. Passengers should also speak up if others in the vehicle are distracting the driver
  2. As a passenger, help the driver by watching the road and helping manage distractions in the vehicle
  3. Take a break. Instead of eating or drinking while driving, stop somewhere safe or eat before starting the trip
  4. Prepare ahead. Adjust seats, mirrors, navigation, and climate controls before driving
  5. More prep work: Set music and playlists before driving. Choose music that helps support focus and concentration
  6. Put phones on Do Not Disturb or Driving Mode before starting the trip. To avoid the temptation to check messages, social media, or notifications while driving, place the phone in the glove box or somewhere out of reach before driving

The presenters were of a very high quality and the feedback from the students during our debrief back at school was extremely encouraging. Nothing beats real life education and that was exactly what the students participated in today. It would take us weeks to get across what each of the experts manage to do in 30 minutes. Every student will have Raymond (Crash Survivor) in their minds and hearts for some time.

Teacher
Burdekin Catholic High School, QLD