The Costs of Driving Distracted 
Inattentive driving is a significant factor in many vehicle
accidents. Most of which are easily preventable.
Fully attentive drivers typically do NOT rear-end the
vehicle in front of them, drive through a stop sign, or drift
into another lane of traffic. Stay 100% focused on your
driving!
Four Types of Distracted Driving
Driving while distracted is caused by one (or, more!) of
the following 4 factors:
1.) Daydreaming
Situational awareness (SA) is the process
of scanning the roadway, identifying
potential hazards, and responding to them BEFORE something happens. If you’re paying
attention to the road, you do not have time to daydream.
When you find yourself daydreaming put your mind back into SA mode. Be thinking: “Hmmm.
That truck is going to merge left, I better move to the left lane when the car to my left has passed.”
2) Not Looking At The Road Ahead
What you “see” involves your brain processing the visual information your eyes send to it. If your
brain is processing something else, like a cell phone conversation, it does not process the visual
information as efficiently and you will identify and react to hazards more slowly.
3) Multi-Tasking While Driving
Only 2% of the population is good at multitasking.
The odds that you’re in that exclusive group are
not very good!
Multitasking while driving is extremely dangerous.
A study by the University of Utah found that people
who think they are great at multitasking are the
least likely to be good at it and persons who talk on
the cell phone the most while driving are also
among the least capable at multitasking.
4) Driving While Drowsy / Driving While Upset
You are less attentive when you’re drowsy. Driving while drowsy increases crash risk by 600%!!
The AAA found drowsy driving accounts for around 100,000
crashes, 71,000 injuries, and 1,550 fatalities.
The National Safety Council (NSC) found driving while in a
“sleep deprived” state is a factor in about 9.5% of all crashes.
Being upset is another factor in accidents. If you’re upset for
any reason –– “take 10” and calm down before you drive again.