What is distracted driving?
Distracted driving can occur any time a driver's attention is taken away from where they should be focusing their concentration — the driving task.
Driver distractions include cell phones, eating, drinking, changing a CD, fiddling with radio dials, talking to a passenger, experiencing emotional distress, minding children, personal grooming, looking at billboards or even other vehicles on the road.
CAA believes that distracted driver education on the full range of distractions leading to a crash, as well as measures to manage those distractions effectively and safely, should be required for all motorists.
There are many different types of distractions
Physical: Distractions that cause a driver to take his/her hands off the wheel, such as eating a sandwich.
Cognitive: Activities that take the driver's mind away from the road, such as carrying on a conversation with another passenger, talking on a cell phone, re-living an argument in your mind or even daydreaming.
Combination: Activities that take your hands, eyes and mind off the road, such as reading a map or programming the radio.
"It's only for a second or two"
Even a moment's distraction can be dangerous. A second or two may not seem like much, but at 50 km/hr, you will travel 14 metres in one second.
A lot can happen in a second or two. Being distracted causes drivers to react more slowly to traffic conditions or events, such as another vehicle stopping to make a left turn, or pulling out from a side road. Distracted drivers fail more often to notice or recognize potential hazards, including pedestrians, bicycles or debris on the road. When drivers allow distractions to take their focus away from the seriousness of the driving task, they decrease their margin of safety and are more likely to take risks even without knowing it.