Five trends in recent years have emerged and converged on drivers to increase the likihood that
safe driving will be put at risk by distractions. Drive time no longer means down time!
Trend #1 - Cockpit Distractions
An automobile executive calls today’s vehicles “high content environments”. Certainly,
road warrior gadgetry has proliferated. Drivers might be tuned out listening to their iPods or
CDs, scrolling and texting on their Blackberry or iPhone, staring at GPS directions, or talking or
listening on cell phones or Blutooth.
According to a Harvard study, 6% of vehicle crashes, resulting in 2,600 deaths per year,
are due to drivers distracted by cell phone use. In an Australian study, drivers using cell phones
were four times more likely to have crashes.
And hands-free phones, such as Blutooth devices, are not risk-free guarantees. Carnegie
Mellon University scientists have shown that simply listening to a cell phone while driving is a
significant distraction. Brain imaging documented that listening alone reduces by 37% the
amount of brain activity associated with driving. And according to one study, driving involves
more than 200 decisions during every mile traveled.
“Drivers need to keep not only their hands on the wheel: they also have to keep their
brains on the road”, said a neuroscientist for the Center of Cognitive Brain Imaging, in a press
release on the Carnegie Mellon study.
Trend #2 - Increased Multi-Tasking Behind the Wheel
This is a natural by-product of today’s time-pressed, hectic, get-out-the-door lifestyles.
How many of your employees are dropping off their children at day care centers or school before
work, and retrieving them after work? How many times might they be turning to the backseat to
answer a question, break up a fight, or look for a spilled McDonald’s Kids Meal?
According to a poll by PEMCO Insurance, 65% of drivers surveyed said they ate while
driving. 58% talked on a cell phone. Other dangerous activities drivers admitted to: eating and
talking on the cell at the same time; writing a text message; applying makeup or shaving; reading
a map or newspaper or book in stop-and-go traffic; and steering with legs and no hands on the
wheel.
The poll showed a disturbing attitude: the more often drivers admitted to performing a
distracting activity, the less dangerous they perceived that activity. Psychologists call this “risk
habituation” or risk normalization. Do something dangerous often enough without paying the
consequences and you think you can get away with it.
Trend #3 - Increased Traffic Congestion
According to www.trafficsafety.org, since 1970 the number of drivers in the U.S. has
increased by 64%, while the roadway system (or vehicle capacity) has increased by only 6%.
Every major metropolitan area in the U.S. is plagued by rush hour gridlock. Stalled and stressed
in traffic, drivers become even more tempted by distractions such as using cell phones, reading,
tuning into music, or closing their eyes to rest.
Due to congestion and stop-and-go traffic, rear-end collisions are the number one type of
distracted driving vehicle crash, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration. More than two-thirds (68%) of all rear-end collisions are due to distracted
driving.
Trend #4 - Increased Commuting Time
Many employees are moving further and further into the “exburbs”, the edge of beyond,
or as one Internet blogger put it: “Living large, by design, in the middle of nowhere”. So
commuting, drive time, becomes longer and longer. Even in Jefferson City there are drivers who
commute approximately one hour each working day driving back and forth to a job.
Even without a long daily commute, some of your employees are increasingly distracted
by converting the car into a mobile office, by activities such as eating and grooming that they
normally would do at home, or getting on the cell phone to take care of personal business.
Trend #5 - Increased Aggressive Driving
Congestion, gridlocks, bottlenecks, delays, long commutes, job or personal frustrations,
and today’s stressed-filled lifestyles all contribute to frustrations and impatience that might
explode into familiar road rage.
Employee-drivers must contend with aggressive driving acts such as: passing on the
shoulder of the road, tailgating, failing to yield to merging traffic, sudden lane changes, failing to
signal lane changes or turns, excessive speeding, flashing high beams, or accelerating through
yellow lights.
There is already but a slim margin for error when driving. According to OSHA, every 5
seconds a vehicle crash occurs; every 10 seconds a crash results in an injury; and every 12
minutes someone dies in a motor vehicle crash. Combine the increase in aggressive driving with
increased “cockpit” distractions and the odds of one of your employees being involved in a crash
only becomes greater.
Distracted Driving’s Toll
These five trends that contribute to the increased risk of distracted driving for your employees
are delivering predictable outcomes:
Driver inattention is the leading factor in most crashes and near-crashes, according
to the National Highway Safety Administration. NHSTSA sponsored research
by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute in 2006 that reported nearly 80%
of crashes and 65% of near-crashes involved some form of driver distraction
3 seconds before the event. Primary causes were cell phone/wireless PDA use
and drowsiness. Between 4,000 and 8,000 vehicle crashes related to distracted
driving occur daily in the U.S., according to AAA. In a year, they contribute
up to as many as 50% of the six-million U.S. crashes reported annually. The
majority of crashes due to distracted driving involve rear-end collisions and
single-car crashes
Bottom Line Damages
Crashes on and off the job have far-reaching financial and psychological effects on employees,
their co-workers and families, and on the entity. In addition to protecting your employees from
minor fender-benders to serious injuries or from becoming one of approximately 43,000
motorists killed on U.S. highways each year, OSHA says employees need training programs and
policies to reduce distracted driving to protect the entity’s human and financial resources, and to
guard against potential entity and personal liabilities associated with crashes involving
employees driving on entity business.