Why Distracted driving could be fatal while using hands-free cell phones?
Road crashes have developed one of the major emerging causes for Road Accidents fatalities.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), road crashes killed more than 1.2 million peoples & permanently disable another 50 million every year across the world.
Over the last decade, road crashes have become one of the major leading cause of death in the world & will keep on rise to the fifth
position by 2030.
India is the biggest contributor to global road crash fatality
figure.
In last decade, My country lost around 1.3 million peoples due to
road accidents while another 5.3 million are permanently disabled.
World Health Organization (WHO) categorizes Distracted Driving as one of the major risk factors for road crash accidents among:-
- Over speeding,
- Driving under the influence of alcohol and other psychoactive substances,
- Not wearing motorcycle helmets,
- Non Use of seat-belts,
- Non Use of child restraints,
- Unsafe road infrastructure,
- Unsafe vehicles,
- Inadequate post-crash care,
- Inadequate law enforcement for traffic Rules
Distracted driving is defined as any activity that diverts a
person’s attention from their primary task of driving to other.
Research shows just listening to a cell phone conversation
decreases brain activity associated with driving by more than half, leading to
safety issues, such as the inability to react quickly while driving.
Other than using electronic gadgets like Hands Free or Handheld
cell phone there are other activities drivers can be distracted for,
- Talking on the phone
- Reading SMS on the phone
- Eating or drinking
- Listening Music
- Watching Video
- Programming GPS
- Daydreaming
- Talking to passengers
- Adjusting the A/C or radio
- Looking at something on the side of the road
· Visual,
· Manual (taking hand off the wheel) &
· Cognitive (taking your mind off driving)
Dangers of Distracted Driving
Motor vehicle crashes are among the top two causes of injury death throughout a person’s lifetime
Every year many people lose life in motor vehicle crashes. It includes people inside & outside of vehicles, as well as motorcyclists, bicyclists & pedestrians who were struck by vehicles. In addition to the thousands of fatalities, many more people suffer serious life-changing injuries in motor vehicle crashes.
The National Safety Council estimates that most of the crashes involved talking on cell phones as well as texting.
Many of us mistakenly believe talking on a hands-free cell phone is safer than handheld.
Hands-free devices often seen as a solution to the risks of driver distraction because they help eliminate two obvious risks – visual, looking away from the road & manual (removing your hands off the steering wheel).
But this is not the case, Conversation occurs on both handheld as well as hands-free phones & the third type of distraction "Cognitive" (taking your mind off the road) occur while driving.
The cognitive distraction from paying attention to conversation – from listening & responding to voice contributes to driving deficiency.
Vision is the most important sense for safe driving.
Vehicle infotainment systems take drivers’ eyes & attention off the road & hands off the wheel for potentially longer time.
Drivers
using in-vehicle technologies like voice-based & touch screen features were
visually & mentally distracted for few seconds when completing tasks like
programming navigation or sending a text message.
Pulling off eyes from the road for just few seconds doubles the risk for a crash, see below infographic,
Multitasking: –
Multitasking is valued in today’s culture.
People often think they are effectively accomplishing two tasks at the same time.
And yes, they may complete a phone conversation while driving & arrive at their destination without incident thus accomplishing
two tasks during the same time frame.
But human brain does not perform two tasks at the same time. Instead, the brain handles tasks sequentially, In reality, the brain is switching attention between tasks & performing only one task at a time.
The brain not only juggles tasks, but it also juggles focus & attention. When people attempt to perform two cognitively tasks such as driving (primary task) & talking on a phone (secondary task), the brain shifts its focus which develops “Inattentive Blindness”.
A driver’s response to sudden hazards, such as another driver’s behavior, animals or objects in the roadway is the critical factor between a crash and a no crash
Inattentive Blindness
Inattentive blindness leads to miss out vital information in our
driving environment.
Studies show that distracted drivers on average, only see & recognize 50% of the moving objects on the road as the driver’s mind is focused on something else.
Inattentional blindness can happen when drivers are:
- Daydreaming
- Talking on the phone (even
with hands-free devices)
- Talking to Co-passengers
- Using GPS
- Texting
Distracted drivers experience inattentive blindness. They are looking out the windshield, but unable to see / recognized & process everything in the roadway environment necessary to effectively monitor their surroundings, seek & identify potential hazards & respond to unexpected situations
Their field of view narrows.
They miss visual cues critical to safety & navigation.
They tend to miss exits, pass through red signals & stop signs & miss
important navigational signs.
Slower Response Time & Reaction Time –
When driving, fractions of seconds can be the time between a
crash or no crash, injury or no injury, life, or death.
Look at How Long it will Take to stop your car
Simulated study shows, Drivers talking on hands-free phones
took more time to reduce their speed & were more likely to brake hard.
Use of Hands-free phone on road led to increase in reaction
time to stop the vehicle (braking) which leads to increase in reaction time ultimately
results in likely hood of crashes.
See below how far you travelled after applying Brakes
Lane Keeping –
There may be very high significant costs with lane changing particularly at very high speeds that too from wrong side as lane keeping is mostly dependent on visual clarity & responding to hazards by reacting.
Avoiding hazards requires drivers to watch for unexpected
events & act accordingly.
Still, when we are driving at high speeds on expressways
with vehicles spaced less than a few feet from each other in parallel lanes,
the margin of error for decision-making and response time to avoid a crash is
relatively small.
What are preventive steps?
Eliminating driver distraction due to cell phone use faces
significant challenges,
· Drivers can avoid this by sending Automatic SMS
to caller, Keeping cell phone on Silent mode..
· Drivers may not be aware of the effect of
missing critical visual information while driving, it required Widespread
education of the risks of hands-free devices, conversation & cognitive
distraction
· Consistent enforcement of laws seems to be single
most important effective strategy as proved in other traffic safety issues like
impaired Driving, safety belts & Over speeding etc.
To provide safety benefits & reducing injuries & fatalities due to crashes, Efforts – including
Education,
Public campaign,
Policies,
Laws, and
Technology could address the Distractive Driving prevention due to handheld & hands-free cell phone.
Conclusion -
“Human brain cannot handle two thinking tasks at the same time, like driving & talking on the phone. Your brain toggles quickly between these two tasks. When driving, this can slow down your reaction time & cause crashes.
Be safe
by putting your phone on Silent mode, programming your GPS, setting up your
radio or music while you still are parked.
Your
life is much more valuable than any phone call, text, or playlist.
Let’s
get on board with traffic safety”
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