Another Challenge for Government Officials: Distracted Drivers

Distracted drivers aren’t something new or unusual, we see them on the roadways all the time eating, drinking, and talking on the phone.

Whether a person feels their time on the phone is more important than focusing on driving or they must get that cheeseburger eaten or they will starve to death, there are people operating vehicles while distracted all the time. Most of the time, we can identify them easily enough, but what if that distraction started somewhere else.

Studies Are Finding a Different Type of Distraction

As the world moves away from the COVID-19 pandemic and we see more businesses open up and people go back to work a big problem has arisen. Drivers who haven’t been using the roadways as frequently as before are now out driving around. Even those who have continued to use the roads the entire time of the pandemic are having trouble driving now.

What’s causing driving troubles? The short answer is the pandemic, but the long answer is too much time behind a computer with overloaded cognitive functions being used. As we turned to more video conferencing from home, our brains become overloaded and we aren’t in the right state of mind to drive. Unfortunately, this could mean that a person on the road could appear to be completely focused, but they have their minds elsewhere while driving.

How Can the Government Assist?

Maybe you feel distracted drivers aren’t a problem for the government to solve, but with an increase in the number of roadway fatalities last year, even with the drop in miles driven, the government needs to pay attention.

The solution might be as simple as requiring a period of time between the final video conference and heading out on the road, giving Americans guidelines for the best times to drive, or it could be something more involved.

Would Autonomous Vehicles Solve the Problem with Distracted Drivers?

If we had a fully autonomous driving system we could trust in every area of the country, that might solve much of the problem. We’re more than a little certain that computers don’t get tired and they can process information infinitely faster than we can as humans, but trusting autonomous driving isn’t something we’re quite ready for.

How Can You Avoid Being Distracted While Driving?

When you’re behind the wheel, you need to offer your complete focus to the task at hand. While the extreme would be to have no distractions, not even music, it’s not likely most of us are going to drive in silence.

Ensure you’re in a good state of mind before driving and minimize the distractions you’ll experience while in the car. Make sure all of your safety systems are turned on to give you the benefits of alerts that can help you.

Until government officials find a way to address the number of distracted drivers on the road due to overloaded cognitive use of the brain, you’re going to have to work to avoid being a distracted person when you drive.

You want to be as alert as you can be so that you can avoid that person who decided they must text, eat, drink, and do their hair all while driving a vehicle.