Jump to:
- What Is a Cognitive Distraction?
- How Do Cognitive Distractions Affect Driving?
- What Should I Do If I’ve Been Injured In an Accident With a Distracted Driver?
While the dangers of cellphone and smartphone use while driving are well-documented, distracted driving takes a number of more socially acceptable forms. Seemingly routine tasks like changing the song on your infotainment system, eating breakfast on your way to work or talking with a passenger can all distract you from the task at hand.
Distractions are everywhere. No matter where you go, someone or something is always trying to grab your attention. But few distractions are more dangerous than when you get behind the wheel.
Distractions abound when you are on the road, and a distracted driver can lead to dangerous situations. In 2022, 3,308 people were killed, and more than 289,000 people were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers.
While it’s easy to point to external distractions as the root cause of accidents, internal distractions can be just as dangerous. Read on to learn more about cognitive distractions and how they affect a driver’s ability to stay safe on the road.
What Is a Cognitive Distraction?
A cognitive distraction is any task that prevents you from processing the necessary information to operate a vehicle safely. It’s one of three types of distractions that research has observed affect drivers on a regular basis. The other two are visual, meaning your eyes are off the road, and manual, meaning your hands are away from the steering wheel.
Two examples of cognitive distractions are:
- Getting lost in thought or daydreaming – While you may be looking at the road, daydreaming can lead to serious accidents, as wandering thoughts reduce your mental capacity to focus on the road.
- Conversations with passengers or hands-free callers – You have most likely seen the various statistics and awareness campaigns for the effects of texting and driving, and for good reason, it is dangerous. However, talking with passengers or using a hands-free device to talk on the phone can also reduce your ability to drive safely, as both reduce your focus on the road. In fact, some studies have shown that a conversation’s intensity can linger and reduce a driver’s focus even after it is over.
These different distraction types often intertwine to reduce an individual’s ability to drive safely. For example, if you are using your phone, you are looking away from the road, using one or both hands to interact with your phone and thinking about the content on your phone screen.
Cognitive distractions are difficult to avoid because people, objects, events or random thoughts can trigger them. However, it’s essential to identify and eliminate them, as they can affect our ability to drive safely.
How Do Cognitive Distractions Affect Driving?
Despite how routine driving is to everyday life, this group of neuroscientific researchers describes the activity as “a complex, demanding task that requires numerous cognitive abilities, including attention, memory, decision-making, and alertness to adapt to a rapidly changing environment.”
Cognitive distractions reduce our ability to process information and make decisions quickly when driving a vehicle at high speeds. Studies on driver behavior have linked cognitive distractions to slower reaction times to changing traffic patterns, incoming vehicles and hazards on the road.
Cognitive distractions may seem harmless in theory, but their effect on driving is real. According to the Centers for Disease Control, drivers who use cellphones while looking at the road may still fail to see up to 50% of the information in their driving environment. Focusing on the task at hand while driving is paramount to your safety and the safety of others around you.
What Should I Do If I’ve Been Injured in an Accident with a Distracted Driver?
If you’ve been injured due to the carelessness of a distracted driver, you may be saddled with significant medical bills and unable to work to provide for your family. Don’t settle for less than you deserve. Getting an experienced team in your corner is critical to increasing the likelihood of success. The team at Eng & Woods Attorneys at Law has represented many victims of auto accident cases and helped them get the compensation they needed to recover.
Contact us today or visit our auto accident injury page to learn more.
