Source: Fairmount Specialty – Risk Management
Anything that diverts your attention away from the task of driving is a distraction. According to www.distraction.gov, 3,328 people were killed and an estimated 421,000 people were injured in crashes involving a distracted driver in 2012.
There are three types of distractions, and you are in control of all of them:
- Visual distractions could include looking at wildlife, billboards, landscape, crash scenes, items in the vehicle or anything that causes you to take your eyes off the road.
- Manual distractions include entering information into a GPS, reaching for items in the vehicle, eating, drinking, adjusting the radio or anything that causes you to take your hands off the steering wheel.
- Cognitive distractions include mulling over your schedule, worrying about being late for a pick up or delivery, day dreaming about your next vacation, thinking about problems at home or anything that causes you to take your mind off the road.
HOW DID I GET HERE?
Have you ever been motoring along and then thought, “Wow, I just drove for miles, and I don’t remember any of it! What happened in the last ten minutes or so?” People tend to go on auto-pilot when performing highly practiced activities like driving.
This state of mind is called inattentional blindness. When you don’t see something that’s in your line of sight – like the road on which you’re driving – you’re experiencing inattentional blindness.
Worse yet, you fail to comprehend seeing it because your attention is not focused. Your mind has wandered or is focused on something else.