As a driver, you’ve almost certainly heard of the dangers of distracted driving. However, it’s possible that you engage in it much more than you realize.
Most things you do in the car will distract you to some degree. This is because there are three forms of distraction, and anything that is not exclusively driving-related will fall into at least one of those categories.
Cognitive distractions
This refers to what you are thinking about as you drive. You should be exclusively focused on navigating your way safely to your destination. However, it likely drifts to other things, such as what you need from the store, what you are doing later in the day or a chat you are having with a passenger. All those things act as cognitive distractions. Even daydreaming is a cognitive distraction.
Manual distractions
Your hands should be holding the steering wheel at all times when driving. If you take them off to do anything else, then you are physically distracted. This applies to everything from adjusting the air conditioning or changing the music to grabbing a bottle of water or pushing your hair out of your face. The moment a hand leaves the wheel, you are less able to control the vehicle.
Visual distractions
Your eyes need to scan the road around you to see what other road users are doing. They also need to see when the lights are changing and read the road signs. What they don’t need to be doing is reading billboards, gazing at interesting people or events on the sidewalk, taking in the view or looking at something or someone within your vehicle. Even a seemingly legitimate task, such as checking your route on the GPS, acts as a visual distraction.
Once you realize how often you get distracted, you can understand how often other drivers do as well. Distraction plays a role in many crashes, so it is always worth considering that possibility to explain why another driver caused a crash.
