One does not have to travel far to witness unsafe driving habits. These bad habits ranging from talking and texting messages on mobile phones, reading a message, eating and drinking, not wearing a seat belt and speeding are dangerous not only to the drivers, but also other motorists as well.
It is one thing to eat and drink, talk, select a radio station or text a message at traffic light or when held in a traffic holdup. But it is an entirely different ballgame to open a pack of biscuits, read a text message or pick a call while driving on the highway at 70 mph.
Eating and drinking while driving could be more dangerous than imagined, even above making calls because it causes distraction while an individual is busy enjoying the food or drink, thus radically delaying the reaction time in case of a road accident.
It is accepted that the distraction of talking on a hand-held mobile phone may increase accident risk. However, researchers indicated that other activities that involve taking one’s hand off the wheel, such as eating or drinking, may also cause distraction.
Distractions can become a problem for drivers who can’t react quickly by slowing down to prevent a collision, a bump or curve.
Serious injuries due to distracted driving can result in severe musculoskeletal injuries or loss of limbs and can take months or years of rehabilitation to regain full recovery, if at all.
Distracted driving is a growing public health threat that can cause life-altering injuries to the driver, his or her passengers and others on the road.
In fact, researchers in a study that measured the reaction times of drivers who indulge in snacks concluded, they were up to 44 per cent slower in reaction compared with other drivers with full concentration.
What is more, merely sipping a drink or using a hands-free phone is not without its dangerous implications because the driver’s response speed is slowed by up to 22 per cent and 26.5 per cent respectively.
Individuals try to multi-task while driving, whether eating, tuning the radio or text messaging, they put themselves and other drivers at risk because the brain would be less focused on driving.
In fact, the chances of an error occurring is very high when an individual attempts to complete many tasks at one time, or alternate rapidly between them.
Driving requires a surprising amount of brain power to process huge amounts of visual information, predict the actions of other drivers and coordinate precise movements of our hands and feet. Even when using a hands-free device, scientists have found that talking on the phone distracts to the point where an individual devotes less brain power to focusing on the road.
When talking, people must withdraw their attention from the road in order to formulate responses. Because the brain cannot focus on two sources of input at one time, driving and listening or talking, this increases the likelihood of accidents. Whether it is a cup of coffee, or unwrapping a sandwich or a pie – anything that means you have to take your eyes off the road is very dangerous. We do see some really upsetting accidents, where drivers have unfortunately been distracted and not able to slow down and a collision has occurred, and those are some very bad accidents.
The top distractions were texting, talking on the phone, having children in the car, and using a GPS, changing the radio station, talking on a hands-free mobile, other passengers, eating while driving, people outside the vehicle and billboards or advertising.
Eating while driving was ranked the eighth biggest distraction behind the wheel.
Source:tribune
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