Driver Distractions

the women in the photo above is driving north on Interstate 5 in Southern California (specifically, just north of the Santa Fe Drive exit in Encinitas) at about 75 mph while jotting notes on a pad she is holding to her steering wheel with her left hand. Neither hand is "on the wheel", and, her eyes are apparently switching between the road and the notes she's making on the pad. Note to her friends: buy her one of those "voice recorders" for her next birthday. It would lower the danger factor to that of the cell phone while she drives....

That old scapegoat the cell phone - can't live with it, can't live without it. Few would argue that it's completely safe to talk on your mobile phone - let alone send text messages or otherwise go through some painful IVR during your drive. During a recent international conference on driver distraction the point was made that lots of issues can distract a driver other than (and including) the mobile phone.

Some more comprehensive analysis has concluded that there are, as most of us experience, and increasing amount of distractions in our vehicles. Combine grooming to children (or worse, grooming your children), watching porn?, eating, drinking, changing the radio station or CD track, watching your navigation system, etc., there are plenty of reasons that one can become distracted while driving. A comprehensive study indicates that fiddling with your stereo was the most common, and tending to your infant the most distracting.