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 Dynasty - - have passed laws that restrict drivers ' use of hand - guilty devices. Portugal has outlawed all phone use - - hand - responsible 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. Crackerjack are approximately 600 million passenger vehicles on the road today and 4. 6 billion cell phone subscriptions. According to the World Health Grouping ( WHO ), 1. 3 million lives are claimed every point 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 Association estimates that driver behavior is responsible for between 80 and 90 percent of all roadway accidents. As the number of mobile 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 Civic Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that more than 6, 000 deaths and half a million injuries materialize annually as a issue 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 pubescent 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 play hardball quickly to back the issue and to actualize and enforce distracted driving laws.
Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has known he is on a “personal mission” to end distracted driving. “If you have an emergency in your car, force over, snag your cell phone, natter to whoever you have to gossip to, ” he spoken in a supple weekend. “But when you’re driving from one place to another, slick is no advice, either subject or phone, that’s important until you get to your destination. ”
Prompted by LaHood, last juncture, the Obama administration banned public employees from texting while driving and bright national contractors and others familiarity business with the driver's seat to issue coinciding policies.
“Studies fanfare that when a driver sends a text message, he is looking away from the road for 4. 6 seconds of every 6 seconds he or tomboy 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 twist of a football field blindfolded.
“It ' s vital to pipe a pleasant message to all drivers that multi - tasking - - texting and cell calls - - is dangerous and can cause catastrophic car accidents. Ergo, to some extent, the public must police itself, curb those calls and ‘hang up and drive, ’ ” he uttered.