Types of distraction
The first step is to understand the main types of driver distraction. They are:
- Cognitive
- Visual
- Manual
Most people are fairly used to handling visual distractions, and vehicles are typically designed to minimize them. It’s why many people stream music or podcasts in the car, but very few attempt to watch a movie while they are in the driver’s seat. Most visual distractions come from roadside spectacles, including landmarks, signs, other vehicles, and accidents.
Manual distraction is also easy to identify. It comes from the handling of physical objects that pull your attention away from the vehicle controls. These distractions can include technology like touch-screen devices and the car’s built-in entertainment or climate controls, and they can also involve the driver’s attempts to multitask. Examples of that kind of manual distraction include eating, drinking, shaving, or applying makeup.
Understanding cognitive distraction
Cognitive distraction is perhaps the hardest for drivers to understand because it is not always as obvious as visual and manual distraction. Visual and manual distractions also usually include some form of cognitive distraction, which can make it especially difficult to pinpoint.
The National Safety Council has a detailed pamphlet outlining the ways that cognitive distraction works, but the essential explanation is simple. When you are concentrating on other decisions or tasks while driving, you are not concentrating on the road. That makes it possible to totally miss visual cues, including stop signs and other cars’ taillights.
The effect of cognitive distraction is real, and its role in causing many accidents has become easier to establish as people give up manual and visual distractions by adopting hands-free navigation and cell phone systems – yet still, have cognitive distractions.
It is important for all drivers to understand the risks of distraction and pay adequate attention to road conditions. That means knowing when it is time to focus on nothing but the road ahead of you.
