After all, a traffic situation may become life-threatening in a matter of seconds. A road user should first and foremost be focused on traffic. Since our mental capacity is limited, we can only pay attention to part of our environment. Several measures to prevent distraction in traffic may be taken, such as a legal and enforced ban on handheld phone use, public information and education campaigns or technical facilities that prohibit the use of mobile phones when on the road.ĭistraction may be seen as ‘misguided’ attention or attention paid to ‘the wrong things’. A possible explanation of these seemingly contradictory results is that drivers compensate for distraction (for example by only having a phone conversation in less demanding traffic situations). Recent American analysis, however, showed that talking on a mobile phone (handsfree or handheld) while driving did not increase crash risk while simulator studies showed that it did adversely affect driving behaviour. Particularly activities which involve road users taking their eyes off the road for longer stretches of time increase crash risk: among other things, entering a phone number, texting, reaching for objects in the car, and prolonged glances at objects outside the car. Distraction negatively affects traffic behaviour. Road users may also be distracted by striking matters and events outside the vehicle, such as billboards, a low-flying plane, someone on the pavement, or a crash. Examples are: operating the navigation system, eating, drinking, talking to passengers or daydreaming. But apart from mobile phone calls, texting, or listening to music, many drivers, cyclists and pedestrians are occupied with all sorts of other activities that may distract them. The mobile phone is symbolic of ‘distraction in traffic’.
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