Lesson Three: Distracted Driving (8.3)

Driving requires your full attention. You have to use all parts of your vision and make decisions about your speed, lane position, and communication in order to safely operate a vehicle. Distractions prevent you from performing these actions and making decisions in a timely manner. Distracted driving occurs when a driver diverts attention away from the road. Distractions can be visual, auditory, manual, or cognitive.

List some of the ways you can be distracted while driving.

 Distracted Driving 

 Distracted Driving and Texting

Most distractions involve more than one of these types, both a sensory – eyes, ears or touch – and a mental component.

In Chapter Four, you learned how perception can influence what you see and how you respond. Knowing what you are looking for while searching the target area helps you process what is happening around you. Using all parts of your vision helps make sense of the space around you however focusing too hard on one thing can cause you to miss important details. This is called inattentional blindness. Inattentional blindness can be dangerous for pedestrians, cyclists, motorcycles, and drivers alike.

Distractions preoccupy people’s minds and they mentally cannot register what they see. Every distraction seriously diminishes your awareness of your surroundings. Your ability to make good decisions and take appropriate actions is compromised.

Driving distracted results in the failure to notice fully visible but unexpected objects, shocking surprises, near‐misses, and collisions that could have been prevented.

What are some things you can do to prevent distractions?