Distracted Driving

With the privilege of driving comes the duty of paying attention. Distracted driving can take a wide range of forms. Any kind of distraction increases your risks and decreases your safety.

“Distraction is a diversion of the driver’s attention from the driving task,” explains Robyn Robertson from TIRF. This lack of attention can result in slower reactions and driving errors that can lead to near misses and crashes.

People cannot multi-task.

“While we may think that we’re multi-tasking our brains are actually switching back and forth between tasks.

The more we jump from one task to the other, the less we focus on each individual task.”

“The issue of distracted driving is much broader than just cellphones. It includes distractions inside the vehicle such as eating, drinking, smoking. It also includes distractions outside the vehicle such as looking at billboards, other drivers and scenery along the road.”

Avoid texting, eating or drinking while driving. Even reading billboards represents a potential deadly distraction. Keep your eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel.

Resist the temptation of getting too comfor-
table. Drowsy driving is a serious issue.

Managing children, changing the radio station, talking to a passenger, putting on makeup are all distractions. The top five perceived distractions are eating, drinking, passengers, other drivers and changing radio stations.

Drivers often engage in distracting activities, indicating a disturbing lack of awareness that they are putting themselves, their passengers and other road users in danger.

Distracted drivers fail to recognize potential hazards, including pedestrians, bicycles or debris in the road.

Distractions cause drivers to react more slowly to traffic conditions or events such as making a left turn or pulling out from a side road. Why not try taking a defensive driving course to help avoid any further incidents and accidents?

Many say they frequently read road signs. They regularly talk to other occupants in the vehicle and admit to thinking of other things while driving.

Changing stations or CDs is a frequent occurrence as well as reading billboards or ads.

A large number of drivers admit to talking on a hands-free phone and using a GPS. Yet those are not seen as distracted behavior by the vast majority!

Drivers often engage in distracting activities, indicating a disturbing lack of awareness that they are putting themselves, their passengers and other road users in danger.

Nevertheless, in Quebec, the use of hand-held cell phones has been banned since July 1, 2008, but hands free devices are still allowed. The province holds a high level of support for the cell phone ban and has active laws against use of hand held cell phones and/or text messaging while driving.

Thank you for visiting Distracted Driving
More to come soon.