For many years at my public talks and training I have always maintained we have one key safety issue. Distracted driving – alongside lack of recurrent training is the issue in motor vehicle incidents.
Largely, one can deduce that distracted driving is an issue based on the habits of other drivers around us.
I often reference a middle aged lady that I overtook on a two lane highway in a major Canadian city. She was weaving across the lane she was in and when I cautiously overtook her. I noticed she had a plated meal on a china plate which she was holding along with the steering wheel. At the same time using a fork in her other hand to shovel food in her mouth. Can anyone say “distracted driving”?
As a local first responder, I also attended motor vehicle incidents and while most don’t have a tragic ending, some do and the problem in most instances is a lack of attention to driving.
When I race cars I only have to drive a few kilometres before steam is creeping out from underneath my helmet because of the amount of brain power required to drive as quickly as possible without stuffing the car in to the barriers.
However, if we gave our regular driving half that attention we would be tired by the time we arrived at our destination. Regardless there is no excuse for distracted driving: https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/breaking-news/distracted-driving-named-top-risk-factor-for-canadian-drivers–desjardins-survey-526486.aspx
