Saber
December 31st, 2007, 12:39 AM
Part One - Divided Attention
Divided Attention is defined as ~ An intentional effort to be aware of two or more things simultaneously.
Ok… so how does that pertain to the safe operation of a motor vehicle? It has become increasing agued that talking on a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle is dangerous. A forum member recently made a statement that is a classic example of the general publics view on this; “I really don't see the added danger in driving and talking on the phone.” I am not picking on them; it is a very common view on the part of most drivers.
There are many studies out there that pertain to divided attention and operating a motor vehicle. One that readily comes to mind was done by a psychologist at Johns Hopkins University. The study showed that talking on a cell phone makes drivers less safe because the brain can’t simultaneously give full attention to both the visual task of driving and the auditory task of listening. The reason? The research showed that directing ones attention to listening effects the input of the visual parts of the brain. A person’s attention is strictly limited and when attention is deployed to a particular action – say, talking on a cell phone – it extracts a cost of another action, in this example the visual task of driving.
This is all based on simply talking on the phone and watching the road. Throw in dialing numbers, reading and or sending text messages, fumbling with your charger and so on greatly adds to the overall distraction of the device.
Cell phones are not the only item in question in regards to distractions while driving. People eat, smoke, read, and fumble with the radio and looking for a good CD to put in all take away from the one thing that a person should be doing while driving, driving the vehicle.
Over the years I have seen (and ticketed) people for doing all sorts of crazy things while driving. These range from reading books to nursing an infant child. People do these things mainly due to the oblivious fact to the actual dynamics that are taking place in and around that vehicle as it is traveling through space and time. One of the main things to consider about a motor vehicle when it is operation is the input from the driver, or in many cases the lack there of. There are 3 laws of Motion and most drivers do not know or understand any of them.
Newton’s First Law states that “Every body remains at rest or moves with constant velocity (in a straight line) unless acted upon by an external force.”
This is known as Inertia and it gets a lot of people hurt. . Let’s look at velocity instead of miles per hour. We all know that 55 miles per hour (mph) is the speed limit on the highway outside of cities and towns and special zones. Now 55 mph does not sound that fast in that context. Let’s change it to velocity which is measured in feet per second (fps). For every 1 mph you are traveling you are going 1.466 fps (which is a mathematical constant for velocity). < V = (S)(1.466) > So at 55 mph you are traveling 80.63 fps/s (fps/s = feet per second every second). At 55 mph if you take you attention off the road for say 3 seconds then you have just traveled 241.89 feet, which is close to the length of a football field. Now that’s quite a good distance for Newton’s Second Law to jump up and ruin the rest of your day.
Newton’s Second Law states that “A free body acted upon by a constant force moves with constant acceleration in the direction of the force. The amount of acceleration is directly proportional to the acting force and inversely proportional to the mass of the body.”
Basically this is the definition of acceleration and the faster you go the longer (in both distance and time) it will take you to stop providing something doesn’t help you stop sooner like a tree or another vehicle. F = (M) (a) Force equals your mass times your acceleration but I will get more into that into Part 4: The Dynamics Of A Crash and how this plays a role in the severity of a collision.
But right now we are talking about paying attention. Why is there an absolute speed law? Why is it 55 on the highway but its 70 on the Interstate and lower in town?
All of those questions pertain in most part to the first and second laws of motion we discussed and how long it will take to stop. The Interstate is a federal regulated limited access highway. The lines of sight are greater, grades are generally kept to a minimum where practical, and the lanes are wider and so on, so a greater speed is allowed. The speed limits in subdivisions and school zones are 25 because there is a substantially higher risk of someone pulling out or running out in front of you so the speed limit is set very low which greatly decreases the stopping time and distance of a vehicle.
But regardless of the speed limit, it doesn’t help if you’re not paying attention which increases your stopping distance and brings us to Part 2: Perception Reaction Time.
Divided Attention is defined as ~ An intentional effort to be aware of two or more things simultaneously.
Ok… so how does that pertain to the safe operation of a motor vehicle? It has become increasing agued that talking on a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle is dangerous. A forum member recently made a statement that is a classic example of the general publics view on this; “I really don't see the added danger in driving and talking on the phone.” I am not picking on them; it is a very common view on the part of most drivers.
There are many studies out there that pertain to divided attention and operating a motor vehicle. One that readily comes to mind was done by a psychologist at Johns Hopkins University. The study showed that talking on a cell phone makes drivers less safe because the brain can’t simultaneously give full attention to both the visual task of driving and the auditory task of listening. The reason? The research showed that directing ones attention to listening effects the input of the visual parts of the brain. A person’s attention is strictly limited and when attention is deployed to a particular action – say, talking on a cell phone – it extracts a cost of another action, in this example the visual task of driving.
This is all based on simply talking on the phone and watching the road. Throw in dialing numbers, reading and or sending text messages, fumbling with your charger and so on greatly adds to the overall distraction of the device.
Cell phones are not the only item in question in regards to distractions while driving. People eat, smoke, read, and fumble with the radio and looking for a good CD to put in all take away from the one thing that a person should be doing while driving, driving the vehicle.
Over the years I have seen (and ticketed) people for doing all sorts of crazy things while driving. These range from reading books to nursing an infant child. People do these things mainly due to the oblivious fact to the actual dynamics that are taking place in and around that vehicle as it is traveling through space and time. One of the main things to consider about a motor vehicle when it is operation is the input from the driver, or in many cases the lack there of. There are 3 laws of Motion and most drivers do not know or understand any of them.
Newton’s First Law states that “Every body remains at rest or moves with constant velocity (in a straight line) unless acted upon by an external force.”
This is known as Inertia and it gets a lot of people hurt. . Let’s look at velocity instead of miles per hour. We all know that 55 miles per hour (mph) is the speed limit on the highway outside of cities and towns and special zones. Now 55 mph does not sound that fast in that context. Let’s change it to velocity which is measured in feet per second (fps). For every 1 mph you are traveling you are going 1.466 fps (which is a mathematical constant for velocity). < V = (S)(1.466) > So at 55 mph you are traveling 80.63 fps/s (fps/s = feet per second every second). At 55 mph if you take you attention off the road for say 3 seconds then you have just traveled 241.89 feet, which is close to the length of a football field. Now that’s quite a good distance for Newton’s Second Law to jump up and ruin the rest of your day.
Newton’s Second Law states that “A free body acted upon by a constant force moves with constant acceleration in the direction of the force. The amount of acceleration is directly proportional to the acting force and inversely proportional to the mass of the body.”
Basically this is the definition of acceleration and the faster you go the longer (in both distance and time) it will take you to stop providing something doesn’t help you stop sooner like a tree or another vehicle. F = (M) (a) Force equals your mass times your acceleration but I will get more into that into Part 4: The Dynamics Of A Crash and how this plays a role in the severity of a collision.
But right now we are talking about paying attention. Why is there an absolute speed law? Why is it 55 on the highway but its 70 on the Interstate and lower in town?
All of those questions pertain in most part to the first and second laws of motion we discussed and how long it will take to stop. The Interstate is a federal regulated limited access highway. The lines of sight are greater, grades are generally kept to a minimum where practical, and the lanes are wider and so on, so a greater speed is allowed. The speed limits in subdivisions and school zones are 25 because there is a substantially higher risk of someone pulling out or running out in front of you so the speed limit is set very low which greatly decreases the stopping time and distance of a vehicle.
But regardless of the speed limit, it doesn’t help if you’re not paying attention which increases your stopping distance and brings us to Part 2: Perception Reaction Time.