Distracted Driving: The Multi-Tasking Myth

Distracted Driving: The Multi-Tasking Myth

Copyright 2014 by Steven D. Gacovino, Esq., Edward Lake, Esq., Luke W Russell

Smashwords Edition

Dedication

To those who have suffered at the hands of distracted drivers, and to those who realize technology must not master us.

Table of Contents

Preface

Do As I Say

Myth: Talking on the Phone While Driving Is the Same as Talking to a Passenger

Multi-Tasking and Inattentional Blindness

Legal Ramifications

Take the Pledge

Help for Victims

About the Authors

Preface

We all like to think we're in control of our mind. It's kind of hard to imagine that we would be like the people who demonstrate in experiment after experiment that our attention easily gets away from us.

Who would think, for instance, that you could be told to keep an eye on a group of basketball players gathered together passing a couple basketballs while a gorilla walks onto the middle of the screen and waves at you – and yet you don't even notice the gorilla.

Many experiments have shown how easily our attention is diverted, while we go on thinking we are alert to what's right in front of us. We easily fail to see obvious things...including things that might need to be noticed while we're driving a car.

We all wonder who's having all those reported accidents blamed on texting or talking on cellphones while driving. Are those stupid drivers? Or are they distracted at just the moment when full attention is required?

The fact is that almost everyone can talk on a phone while driving without having a wreck. It's also a fact that attention spread too thin at critical moments is behind many accidents. That's what this little book is about – the critical moments when our full attention is required to operate a vehicle without causing harm to others or ourselves. The issue lies in those very short moments – not in the undeniable fact that we rarely have an accident while talking on the phone.

Accidents are called accidents because they are unusual. Someone slips on a small puddle of water on a restaurant floor because the puddle is nearly invisible, or steps on a nail in the grass at the city park.

Auto accidents rarely occur, compared to how many times we venture onto the roads. When we talk about accidents, we are talking only about rare moments. But cellphone use is