Recently, personal finance website, MoneyGeek, listed Hawai`i as the 5th worst state for distracted-driving fatalities. While cell phone usage (non-hands free) and texting are surely leading contributors to this problem, the gotta-check-my-phone-now syndrome is not the only cause. Cell phones might be a technical opioids and digital appendages, but MoneyGeek notes that taking your hands off the wheel (like perhaps to grab a french fry), taking your eyes off the road (changing your Spotify playlist), or taking mental attention away from driving are additional causes for this distracted driving debacle.
Eating, changing a CD, reading headlines, and/or doing your makeup while driving used to be bad enough, but adding in the phone/texting component has only made things worse. The risk is not simply about dinging the guy in front of you or getting a ticket (fat chance). The risk is dying. And we’re 5th best at that. Not good.
Another common distraction nowadays is the HD-quality, enlarged video screens new cars provide with colorful maps and other features. The only thing missing is a 3D hologram popping up on your dashboard or an IMAX screen up front. Babysitting video screens were cool for the kids in back, but we’ve gone too far with video up front. How did some of these “visual aids” get past federal transportation watchdogs?! Distracted? Heck, we’re now being fully entertained.
Hawai`i was the only state among the top five deadliest ones that has banned hand-held cell phones while driving. We’ve also banned cell-phone usage in crosswalks. How’s that working out? As Hawai`i has seen a jump in distracted driving deaths in recent years, the laws here are apparently not working too well too often.
Many cell phones now require you to tell them you’re actually “not driving” if you want to use the phone while piloting a vehicle; that morality play isn’t working either. Can’t we just focus on the vital task at hand without a phone in play? Numerous studies have proven that multi-tasking simply doesn’t work. As a matter of fact- multi-tasking doesn’t really even exist. Your brain automatically focuses on one task over another, and you end up doing nothing well.
So let’s all get more resilient, maybe even turn OFF the phones when driving. It can be done, used to be done, and is still done by some. Hey, the life you save may be your own.
Think about it…