Driven to Distraction

Neural attention? Driving is a process like walking. One can walk and talk and there are no problems. The feet adjust to terrain variations, not tripping up the stairs, and the conversation may not skip a beat. The eyes (visual neural attention) are committed to the walking task, a familiar task demanding conscious attention only when an abnormality is observed. If the conversation requires visualization, the walker may trip as visual neural attention is distracted by the visualization. More likely a bird observed while walking in a park results in tripping over an otherwise root.

Driving is for the most part boring. The conscious mind goes to "sleep" when bored. Talking to a passenger, playing the radio, even drinking a cup of coffee while driving; are well established means of maintaining a better level of alertness. That is readiness to deal with the observation of an abnormality, like someone approaching an intersection at a speed that suggests they are going to run the light.

Now drinking a full cup of hot coffee is not recommended because it offers too many opportunities for visual neural attention distraction, or why rumble strips were invented. Similarly, dialing and texting can become longer duration distractions from the road than conditions permit (does anyone actually follow the three second rule?).

The concern for distraction seems too focused on those things in the drivers control. The problems society needs to consider are the roadside advertising thats more like an old fashioned "drive in" but the car is moving not parked. Even excessive disorganized road signs can be visually distracting.

Cell phones and satellite radio can be distracting but are in the driver's control and the driver can choose to avoid visually stimulating topics or the length of the distraction as one should when checking the mirrors. Lets not condemn them. Lets minimize external distractions of the autonomic neurology which alert us to the abnormal driving condition. Well done CMU!

well i feel that it is up to the driver to decide if they want to take the chance of eating and driving it is a new addiction no more will people hear of dying by drinking and driving but dying by eating and driving

I don't understand why this can't be figured out. Holding the phone is NOT the distraction; some people just can't think and drive at the same time. I've seen many people driving along at 40 mph on a highway because they're talking (even on hands free) and not paying attention to driving.

Eating, reading, putting on makeup, looking for something (like a CD) and on and on. These are all more distractions than holding a cellphone but they're not illegal. Well, they probably are but it's harder to catch someone. It's much easier to see someone using a cellphone and get revenue by giving them a ticket. That's what it's all about you know, money.

Just like seatbelts. Why should I have to wear a seatbelt when I'm in the car by myself if I don't want to? I'm not endangering anyone but myself. That's my choice, like drinking (not while driving) or smoking or whatever other act is harmful to my health. Again, it's easy to catch people and it brings in money.