In a Psychology 101 course, where we learned how certain distractions affected people. More specifically, we learned how different distractions affected people while driving, all of them involved obstruction of view and focus. The biggest distraction, surprising absolutely no one, is phone usage. Any form of using your phone is distracting, even if you are not physically looking down at your phone. Verbally talking on your phone is just as distracting as having your head buried in it. When this occurs, your mental and logical focus is on the conversation being had and the person it’s being had with. This means while you are subconsciously focused on driving, your main focus is elsewhere. Which can lead to you not noticing or paying attention to the small details in your surrounding that occur when you drive. This is a similar occurrence when you are physically on your phone, the only difference is that not only are you mentally and logically distracted, but you are also visually distracted. In the constant switching between looking at your phone and the road, your brain is shifting back and forth between two situations and viewpoints. One is small and pinpoint and the other is large, wide, and has many things to look at and pay attention to. This is a lot for your brain to handle, so you are bound to miss something, more times than not it will be the bigger view where something will be missed.
So, when the question of, what can be done to prevent said distractions from occurring while driving, the simple answer is to inform or educate drivers. However, for new drivers, that solution is not as simple as one may think. More times than not, because someone has not been in an accident or even come close to one, they may not understand the true severity that lies behind it. One method I think would be helpful would be a segment of driver’s training that focuses primarily on the dangers of distracted driving. Included in this segment would be an engaging video course, where students must verbally participate. Speaking aloud answers and any questions force the participant to focus, engage, and retain information. Like the written portion of any driving test, there should also be a distracted driver test to follow the video course.
The second method, that would aid the first, would be a simulation. This could be demonstrated in the way of a simulation where the student would sit in an arcade-style car machine that has a self-facing camera to record the students and their actions. Along with the machine would be a remote that the instructor will have. Here they can see what the student is doing as well as, input events to correspond with a distracted driver. During this, the student will drive in road modulation where they must pay attention to the road and drive accordingly. Because their actions are being recorded, the instructor would know if they became distracted in any manner. Ironically, if their eyes averted from the screen, it would be counted as a distraction. Depending on how long or in what direction they look in, the instructor would input an event to occur in the modulation. The event occurring may be an accident, a moment where the driver must abruptly move out of the way of something or another car, or an instance where they must brake hard because a car is stopped ahead.
In my own experiences, I have been in an accident while driving where I was making a turn next to a 16-wheeler truck. I did not realize how sharply these large trucks turned, and I was hit and dragged along the road as a result. Teaching new drivers about the types of vehicles including the typical sedan or SUV, along with larger vehicles like delivery trucks and vans, would help decrease the risk of accidents as well. I will continue to be cautious while driving and think both ahead and, at the moment, to make safe maneuvers while driving. I also plan to teach my children about safety on the road and what to be aware of as well as how to think “on their feet.”
In closing, everyone with a driver’s license has been a distracted driver at some point, whether it was eating food or looking and talking on the phone yet may not know the real severity of being one. Howbeit, the biggest reason for distracted driving is the lack of formality with the consequences that come with it. You are told the consequences and have even viewed commercials, but unless it is engaging, the information would be retained. You may know the consequences, but unfortunately, unless you experience them in some way, the information is not understood.