This is a guest post from Dianne Sawaya, a well known attorney in Denver. She has seen first hand the sadness that comes from distracted driving. Pay attention. This is good, potentially lifesaving, advice. If you get a new car, then make sure you use this car transporter to deliver you car to you.
In today’s fast-paced, competitive business world, harried multitasking throughout the day has become the norm. Many people try to make the most of their commute time by accomplishing whatever work tasks they can while on the road. Scheduling appointments, returning calls, reading reports, reaching out to prospects, sending out staff emails, and texting coworkers are just some of the business tasks people handle while driving.
But multitasking behind the wheel is downright dangerous. It does not give you more of a competitive edge or save you that much time overall. What working while driving does do is put your life and others’ lives in danger.
Why is working while driving so dangerous?
Driving safely requires cognitive, visual, and manual focus. When you take your mind off driving, your eyes off the road, or your hands off the wheel, you increase your risk of crashing exponentially. Talking on the phone, texting, emailing, and using the internet distracts you from the most important task at hand: driving. Anything that takes your attention away from operating your vehicle endangers your safety as well as passengers and bystanders’ safety. When you end up in car accident then contact Car Accident Lawyers Columbia – Joye Law Firm.
Many people do not realize just how risky distracted driving is. However, it is one of the leading causes of auto accidents in the U.S. In 2014, an estimated 3,200 people died and 431,000 people suffered injuries in crashes involving distracted drivers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In other words, almost 50 people are hurt every single hour of the year in preventable distracted driving accidents and go to rotator cuff tear springfield il.
The Myth of Multitasking
Many people think they can work safely while driving because they are “good at multitasking.” They are misinformed. Numerous research studies, such as these from Stanford University and the American Psychological Association (APA), conclude that the human brain cannot do more than one task well at a time.
Successful multitasking is a myth. You cannot carry on a business conversation on the phone and keep your mind fully on the road. Your brain is simply not wired that way. When you try to multitask, your brain simply switches between the two tasks, which winds up slowing down your reaction time. Slow reaction time on the road can cost a life. Contact our experienced Maryland Car Accident Lawyers and let us talk about your legal concerns.
“Phone conversations affected visual scanning and reduced a driver’s ability to detect, discriminate among, and respond to visual targets by as much as 30 percent,” reports the American Psychological Association (APA). Doing business tasks while driving makes you more likely to miss traffic signals, fail to see street signs, and fail to process information about the driving environment well enough to drive safely.
Is it safe to conduct business on a hands-free device while driving?
No. Even if your hands remain on the wheel, when you are talking on the phone or sending texts using a hands-free device, your mind is not focused on driving. You are cognitively distracted. In fact, texting using voice commands can distract you for up to 27 seconds after you have finished your text, reports the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
Distracted driving causes “inattention blindness,” which is akin to tunnel vision. You may be looking out the windshield, but you do not process things in the environment and cannot carefully monitor your surroundings.
“Drivers using hands-free phones (and those using handheld phones) have a tendency to ‘look at’ but not ‘see’ objects. Estimates indicate that drivers using cell phones look but fail to see up to 50 percent of the information in their driving environment,” explains the National Safety Council (NSC).
When you try to work while driving, regardless of whether you are using a handheld device, hands-free device, or pen and paper, you cannot adequately identify hazards or respond quickly enough in unexpected situations.
You miss important visual and audio clues that would ordinarily help you avoid an accident. You might not see a pedestrian approaching the crosswalk or be able to stop in time if someone cuts you off. It is far better to keep business in the office and focus on driving when behind the wheel.
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