Paying Attention

We are so readily diverted, bored as we are by the mundane, the ordinary, the expected. Anything to lift us out of the ennui of knowing what comes next, whatever will inject a small note of the unexpected. Continual focus on something that is utterly routine, a skill long since mastered, is difficult and its nuisance factor can perhaps be cited in the fact that as we view driving to get from one point to another as natural as say, physical locomotion, an art now long lost on people reliant on their vehicles, it can be done casually.

So casually that other actions can be incorporated into the automation of driving. Scarfing down a quick fast-food meal, drinking coffee, combing your hair, shaving, putting on make-up; all accomplished, no fuss, no muss, and eyes on the road -- mostly. There are exceptions, of course. All it takes is a distracted moment, like the time the driver awkwardly bent toward the floor of his car to pick up a toy his infant child had tossed over from the back seat. And that's all it took for him to plow into the car in front of his that came to a sudden stop in traffic.

There are so many annoying rules to be factored in when you're driving; rules that, if ignored can result in a traffic citation and that's a real nuisance. Seat belts, for example, so damn uncomfortable, little wonder they're not yet legally required in many U.S. States; some that do require them only for people under 18. Forget to buckle up in any Canadian Province, and you're ticketed. Gotta watch how you open a car door because a bicyclist may be zipping past at the time....

Cellphones are another distraction, but it's illegal now in Ontario to use one other than mounted on the dashboard and bluetooth-controlled. Talking and texting on cellphones while driving holds the risk of crashes - the chances increase by up to 23 times. Two Edmonton-based doctors are now launching a campaign to enlist doctors to influence their patients not to focus on a cellphone while they're driving.

"Unfortunately many physicians also use their cellphones while driving and are setting a poor example for families and patients", wrote Victoria K. Lee and Louis Hugo Francescutti in a paper published in the journal Canadian Family Physician. The two physicians are focused on the need to convince people that they're engaging in hazardous activities; commonplace, ordinary but potentially lethal when cellphone use is linked with driving; no one can give their full attention to two such disparate activities; one is bound to fail, and it's not the conversation.

Third screen of DriveMode app. Credit: blackberryappworld.com

 

"The evidence is overwhelming and irrefutable that no human can talk on a cellphone, let alone text, and drive (safely) at the same time", Francescutti, an emergency physician and professor at the University of Alberta's School of Public Health. "Fifty percent or more of our brain's capacity is focusing on the conversation, leading to inattention blindness. You think you're observant of what's going on around you, but, in essence, you're not."

Picture of what was left of two cars after they collided head -on. The driver of the red car was texting while driving. There were no survivors. Credit: textkills.com

 

"Whether it is hand-held or hands-free, the conversation is the distraction, regardless what the laws say." Many jurisdictions which have legislated against cellphone use while driving, permit the use of hands-free devices. As far as the two doctors are concerned, this simply encourages people to trade "one dangerous habit for an equally dangerous one". It is not just the physical manipulation of the cellphone itself, but the mental distraction that is harmful in its net effect, interfering with the focus on driving.

People must take full responsibility for what they're doing when they're behind the wheel. And though people feel they are alert to the road and the other drivers around them, that even while using a cellphone they're perfectly capable of dividing their attention without shortchanging one activity for the other, it simply isn't possible. Incidentally and in the very same vein, people become so focused on texting that it is becoming increasingly commonplace for people on foot, crossing busy roads, to become accident victims as well.

Car crosses median into oncoming traffic and slides;driver was texting while driving. Credit: nyinjuryblog.com;

"If I'm driving and my boss phones me and there's a problem at work, and I'm about to merge and it's raining and there's a mom with kids crossing the road and there's a big truck blocking the traffic, whoever I'm talking to has no clue that's going on", observed Dr. Francescutti.

They point out that injuries resulting from car crashes remain a major cause of death for Canadians. Representing, in fact, the leading cause of death for Canadians under age 34. Studies give proof that at any given time one in 20 Canadian drivers is in the process of using a cellphone while driving. Common sense dictates: CEASE AND DESIST!

Aftermath photo of commuter train accident causing 132 injuries & 25 deaths including the conductor who was in the middle of sending/receiving 40 texts and missed a red light signal. Credit: digitaljournal.com