Multitasking Behind The Wheel Like Driving Blindfolded

Multitasking Behind The Wheel Like Driving Blindfolded

Multitasking—doing several things simultaneously—may increase productivity if you’re behind your desk. But when you’re driving, it’s deadly.
Distracted driving - - commonly the practice of texting or using your cell phone while driving - - has emerged as a leading cause of highway fatalities here and around the globe.
In response to the growing number of deaths caused by distracted driving, 32 nations - - including Brazil, France, Japan, Jordan, Spain, Taiwan and the United Nation - - have passed laws that restrict drivers ' use of hand - under obligation devices. Portugal has outlawed all phone use - - hand - executive or hands - free - - in the driver ' s seat. More recently, the United Nations issued a command banning its 40, 000 employees from texting while driving.
The numbers are compelling. Crack are approximately 600 million passenger vehicles on the road today and 4. 6 billion cell phone subscriptions. According to the World Health Plan ( WHO ), 1. 3 million lives are claimed every allotment as a harvest of car accidents, or one death every 30 seconds. That agency estimates that car accidents will climb from the ninth to the fifth leading cause of death worldwide by 2030.
The Wholesale Road Safety Association estimates that driver behavior is responsible for between 80 and 90 percent of all roadway accidents. As the quantity of moving communication devices continues to rise, more drivers will have access to them, use them and be distracted by them, leading to more deadly crashes.
In the United States, the numbers are dismal.
The Public Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that more than 6, 000 deaths and half a million injuries occur annually as a outcropping of distracted driving.
In response, seven states have outright bans on using any handheld cell phone while driving ( California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Utah and Washington ), as do the District of Columbia and the U. S. Virgin Islands. Wireless headsets are banned for unpracticed drivers ( under 18 or 21, depending on the state ) in 21 states and D. C. Twenty - three states and D. C. ban subject messaging for all drivers, while nine other states ban it for minors and / or new drivers.
The epidemic of distracted driving has lawmakers, regulators and experts effectual quickly to ballyhoo the issue and to carry off and enforce distracted driving laws.
Department of Transportation Secretary Stream LaHood has avowed he is on a “personal mission” to end distracted driving. “If you have an emergency in your car, endeavor over, gain your cell phone, gibber to whoever you have to chatter to, ” he vocal in a unripe stop. “But when you’re driving from one place to another, practiced is no advice, either words or phone, that’s important until you get to your destination. ”
Prompted by LaHood, last week, the Obama administration banned state employees from texting while driving and confident state contractors and others maturity business with the subjection to issue twin policies.
“Studies pageant that when a driver sends a topic message, he is looking away from the road for 4. 6 seconds of every 6 seconds he or lassie types, ” says Jim Adler, a Houston - based car accident attorney who has followed the issue closely. “At 55 miles an hour, that’s like driving the hank of a football field blindfolded.
“It ' s vital to bear a rainless message to all drivers that multi - tasking - - texting and cell calls - - is dangerous and can cause catastrophic car accidents. Then, to some extent, the public must police itself, curb those calls and ‘hang up and drive, ’ ” he verbal.