It is hard to keep up with the articles, reports, and opinion pieces about distracted driving. It seems as though each week brings a new slew of information and analysis. I thought it might be helpful for parents trying to understand how to handle electronic distraction to have a brief summary, a distillation, of the key points of what the experts and pundits are saying on this subject. So, here is my own sense of the gist of what the experts are saying about this topic:
- Distracted driving is as old as driving itself, but in the past 20 years, distraction from in-vehicle electronic devices has grown rapidly, starting with the use of cell phones by drivers in the mid 1980’s.
- Today, the problem is growing exponentially, not just from the proliferation of texting but from the introduction of more complex and confusing dashboard-mounted, interactive, Internet-accessible screens, functions, and apps.
- While the problem of electronic distraction is regarded by some as only a teen and young driver phenomenon involving texting, the problem of electronic distraction now fully involves adults and experienced drivers. This means that since parents are role models for their teen drivers, their every use of a car’s technology is setting an example, intentionally or not.
- This avalanche of electronic distracting devices is driven by the same reason as the rise of social media — our insatiable need to feel connected and in touch.
- Most likely, the data on crashes, injury, and fatalities from electronic distractions while driving are vastly underreported.
- If we “look at the science” of distracted driving, there really is no remaining debate about whether drivers are able to drive safely while using electronic devices by simply multitasking. In a recent Huffington Post Impact article, Professor Eric Atchley of the University of Kansas said this: “There is no controversy in the science of distracted driving. You need your brain to drive, and when we overload the brain with two very difficult tasks, driving and trying to communicate, driving loses. Scores of studies over decades of research show we scan the world less well, we think about our drive less carefully, we react more slowly, and we crash.”
- Professor Atchley’s comment is backed up by the fact that six of the world’s leading health organizations have adopted the position that hands free electronic devices present the same type of risk as hand held devices – – a position in direct conflict with cell phone laws in the United States, which predominantly prohibit only hand held devices.
- Most electronic device and distracted driving laws in the United States target texting and cell phones, but say nothing about the dashboard-mounted interactive screens.
- Most distracted driving laws are overly complex and confusing. For example, many of them contain an exception for “audio”, intending to allow drivers to use that old fashioned thing called the radio, but the laws therefore don’t cover using a smartphone or a dashboard screen to stream music, which can be distracting when the driver looks at the device to set the song or station.
- Similarly, many electronic distraction laws are outdated and misdirected, by trying to focus on particular devices, such banning “iPods and MP-3 players,” instead of focusing on the driver conduct of using the devices while driving.
- We would do better to simplify our laws, to something like: “It shall be unlawful for the driver of a vehicle in motion to use an electronic device to text, type, read, watch a video, take a photograph, or make a phone call.”
- Yes, electronic distraction laws are hard to enforce, but government needs to establish a safety standard. Some people actually comply with the law just because it’s the law.
- Electronic distraction laws don’t need to ban all electronics from vehicles. Rather, our laws should limit their use by a driver while the vehicles are in motion.
For parents of teen drivers, the takeaways (as I have written here numerous times) are (1) zero tolerance for use of any electronic devices by teen drivers, which starts with the cell phone or any mobile device going into the glove box before driving and staying there until the car is turned off; and (2) recognizing that you are a role model, and your own use of electronic devices while driving will be watched carefully by your teen. And for the rest of us as drivers, we need to understand the facts of electronic distraction and urge our legislators to make sure our laws are as up to date, properly targeted, comprehensive, and in line with the current science as possible.
