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 quantity of deaths caused by distracted driving, 32 nations - - including Brazil, France, Japan, Jordan, Spain, Taiwan and the United State - - have passed laws that restrict drivers ' use of hand - under contract devices. Portugal has outlawed all phone use - - hand - sworn to or hands - free - - in the driver ' s seat. More recently, the United Nations issued a dictate banning its 40, 000 employees from texting while driving.
The numbers are compelling. Ace are approximately 600 million passenger vehicles on the road today and 4. 6 billion cell phone subscriptions. According to the World Health Construction ( WHO ), 1. 3 million lives are claimed every shift as a creature 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 Cooperation estimates that driver behavior is responsible for between 80 and 90 percent of all roadway accidents. As the numeral of motile 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 Federal Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that more than 6, 000 deaths and half a million injuries eventuate 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 inexperienced drivers ( under 18 or 21, depending on the state ) in 21 states and D. C. Twenty - three states and D. C. ban topic 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 trenchant quickly to champion the issue and to sign and enforce distracted driving laws.
Department of Transportation Secretary Shaft LaHood has published he is on a “personal mission” to end distracted driving. “If you have an emergency in your car, accomplishment over, gather your cell phone, prattle to whoever you have to prate to, ” he oral in a lush stay. “But when you’re driving from one place to another, there is no orientation, either issue or phone, that’s important until you get to your destination. ”
Prompted by LaHood, last date, the Obama administration banned public employees from texting while driving and confident public contractors and others sophistication business with the qualification to issue in agreement policies.
“Studies occurrence that when a driver sends a content message, he is looking away from the road for 4. 6 seconds of every 6 seconds he or nymph 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 skein of a football field blindfolded.
“It ' s vital to move a halcyon message to all drivers that multi - tasking - - texting and cell calls - - is dangerous and can cause catastrophic car accidents. Consequently, to some extent, the public must police itself, curb those calls and ‘hang up and drive, ’ ” he verbal.