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In an article about her recent
fall down a flight of stairs, Susan Schwartz (“Stumbling into realizing that
living in the moment might help”, Vancouver Sun, January 22) concluded that
the fall was a “symptom of my generally lackadaisical approach to life,” that
she had been ‘distracted’ at the time, indeed, come to think of it she was
“almost always distracted, … almost always somewhere else.”
Ms. Schwartz’s ‘takeaway’
from the experience—to be more mindful—echoed a sticky sound bite from a TV
driving show: “Driving isn’t downtime.” ‘Downtime’ is a modern word
describing periods when a system (a network or assembly line) is unavailable
or non-performing. In our tendency to liken human behaviour to
mechanistic operation, it has also come to describe periods of non-working,
and by further extension, non-thinking-time.
It is a scary thought that
drivers need to be reminded that driving is not a non-thinking
activity. It is a scary thought that Ms. Schwartz’s candid
self-assessment—a tendency not to think about what she is doing at the
time—likely resonates with most people and that this mindset extends to their
driving behaviour. But statistics and studies confirm that distracted
driving is a huge problem. A now two-year old study by the US National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded that “driver inattention is
the leading factor in most crashes and near-crashes” and that “Nearly 80
percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved some form of
driver inattention within three seconds before the event.”
Many aspects of the driving
experience lull us into thinking of driving as downtime, as not requiring
mindfulness. Modern vehicles offer customizable physical comfort,
climate control, and surround sound. Many things happen automatically:
the doors lock, the windshield wipers start up, the headlights adjust.
The physical skills needed are relatively simple to execute. On a daily
basis, most people drive the same routes at roughly the same time. Some
have argued we are actively discouraged from thinking by the clutter of
traffic control signage—simple commands reinforced with bright visuals.
Driving is not simple, and safe
driving involves never being lulled. Uncontrolled intersections,
two-way stops, four-way stops, roundabouts or traffic circles, controlled
intersections—all have right-of-way rules that require drivers to identify
the traffic pattern they are in and respond accordingly. Turning right
and left at intersections, merging into and out of the traffic flow, changing
lanes—all have signaling and timing rules that require drivers to know what
is happening all around their vehicle and respond accordingly.
Following other vehicles in a line of traffic involves assessing and
maintaining a safe following distance which is dependant on a host of
changing variables: visibility, road conditions, the traffic speed and the
posted speed limits.
Survival on the roadway requires
a high level of alertness. “Due care”, “Defensive Driving”,
“Situational Awareness” – whatever we might call this requirement for focus,
we know that (almost always) when a crash occurs, someone was not paying
enough attention.
Cedric
Hughes of Hughes and Company Law Corporation, with contributions from Leslie
McGuffin, LL.B., writes a weekly column on traffic advice for The VOICE.
"The Road Rules" strives to provide helpful information about
driving in British Columbia. We welcome your comments on our published
articles and your suggestions for topics you would like us to address. Please
email: jkhong@hughesco.com. Phone: (604) 602-1828. Punjabi and Hindi: (604)
897-0207. Email: cedric_hughes@hughesco.com. (www.roadrules.ca)
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