CHECKING THE WAKE Safety E-Newsletter April 2012
Volume 4, Number 6
HAPPY SPRING
WHY ARE WE MORE DISTRACTED WHILE DRIVING? by Teresa S. Boucher Did you know that the human powers of concentration are strong enough for us not to notice something right in front of us? This is called ‘inattentional blindness’. With all the distractions in today’s world, [smartphones, ipads, GPS, etc.] while driving - there’s too much information coming at us at one time. In any scenario, there is so much visual stuff and auditory stuff and tactile stuff that our brains cannot process it all at the same time. So there’s a need to select! While the brain may have billions of neurons, it is still not enough to account for every bit of sensory information streaming in from our eyes, ears, nose, palate and skin. So the brain has to marshal ‘phenomenal’ yet ‘finite’ resources to sift through the sensory overload to take note of what we ‘most’ need to know! Is it any wonder that while you are trying to drive, and may also be checking your phone, looking at your gps, talking to the passenger beside you or eating while driving that you have an accident? Below are some of the increased risk you assume when doing some of these activities.
“We have this relentless avalanche of information that is coming our way, and we cannot begin to sift through it.”
Behavior Increased Risk Reaching for a moving object 9 times Driving drowsy 4 times Looking at an external object 4 times Reading 3 times Dialing a phone 3 times Personal grooming 3 times Talking on hand-held phone
1 times Ref: John Hopkins Magazine – P.M. Forni
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