| This may be one of the more fiercely debated issues | | | | determined "looking but not seeing" as the most |
| in the concept cars of the future. How much can the | | | | commonly identified specific crash cause. Apparently, a |
| driver handle? "The race to funnel information, | | | | driver could actually look right at something but not |
| communication and entertainment into vehicles has | | | | actually take in critical information about speed and |
| accelerated as the costs of hardware such as Global | | | | direction. |
| Positioning System receivers and display screens have | | | | Obviously, the process of seeking out the information |
| plummeted," says a recent article in the Wall Street | | | | you need to drive is not all that straightforward. |
| Journal. | | | | Divided attention |
| Drivers website has been following this race very | | | | Driving is a task that depends on attention dividing. It's |
| closely over the past several years. We have | | | | multi-tasking by nature. And there will always be |
| watched the pieces come together and also followed | | | | distractions as long as humans drive cars. |
| the discussion about driver distraction. What's shaping | | | | The question is, how do drivers learn how long they |
| up, or should be shaping up, is a major debate over the | | | | can take their eyes off the road ahead? How do they |
| future of human autonomy, privacy and safety. | | | | learn what to look at and what not to look at? How do |
| Can we humans be trusted to manage such a difficult | | | | we drivers train our vision instincts? |
| task as driving, or should we be heavily managed and | | | | It would seem to be a no-brainer that vision training |
| restricted by laws, social engineering, or perhaps even | | | | would help. However, there are limitations there. Over |
| sidelined completely by emerging technologies that | | | | the past few decades the value of training and |
| take us humans out of the picture and let the vehicles | | | | education has been heavily discounted by researchers |
| drive themselves? | | | | and governments just about everywhere. Today's |
| Trusting humans | | | | training is more about getting a license than dealing with |
| The distraction issue is not new. There was an intense | | | | the problems that beset experienced drivers. |
| debate back in the 1930s about whether radios should | | | | One of the scariest things about automobiles and us |
| be allowed on the dash. When mobile 'cell' phones | | | | human operators is that, at any particular time, we do |
| began to be widely available in the 1990s, the | | | | not have full control over where our eyes focus and |
| controversy exploded. In August 2000, the U.S. National | | | | what kind of attention we pay to particular things that |
| Highway traffic Safety Administration sponsored an | | | | are going on around us. Training is one factor in that |
| internet conference on the topic. | | | | process, experience is another. Since training typically |
| This past week the Canadian Broadcasting | | | | ends at licensing, the rest of the process is handled by |
| Corporation addressed the issue in an episode of | | | | life's great instruction academy -- the school of hard |
| MarketPlace, and others have joined the fray this past | | | | knocks. |
| month with special programs devoted to the issue. | | | | As one traffic safety expert pointed out some years |
| In short, there is no lack of media attention to the driver | | | | ago, after licensing, drivers build two sets of habits -- |
| distraction issue. | | | | good ones they pick up by dint of experience, and bad |
| Typically, media stories about the dangers of driver | | | | ones they think are good until they are caught out. |
| distraction will feature two prominent elements: a tragic | | | | Phoning and texting would come under the latter |
| story resulting from a gross example of distraction; | | | | heading. The more you get away with it the more |
| and a demonstration of how distracting technologies | | | | complacent you become. |
| such as phone texting and navigation systems can be. | | | | Drivers, laws, and technologies |
| These stories have a familiar shape to members of | | | | Over the past decade the role of 'telematics' in driving |
| the traffic safety and driver education community. For | | | | has accelerated. The transfer of wireless information |
| a long time, it's been obvious to experts on driving that | | | | over phones, internet, WiFi, is bringing to the car all the |
| one of the biggest problems plaguing drivers is | | | | connectivity of home computing. |
| distraction. This has been a problem long before mobile | | | | For the manufacturers of the technologies the early |
| phones and navigation systems. If there are no | | | | problems were in the arena of marketing as much as |
| technology distractions there's that other, perhaps | | | | tech development. Customers didn't understand them, |
| even more dangerous distraction -- absentmindedness. | | | | or didn't want to pay. There were complex partnership |
| For the most part, driving doesn't take all of our | | | | to be considered and the whole issue of which tech |
| attention. That's just a fact. Boredom and | | | | goodies to package with the vehicle. |
| absent-mindedness have played a huge role in the | | | | Now costs are coming down and the technologies are |
| horrendous traffic fatality toll that has dogged our | | | | more sophisticated and easier to use. As the Wall |
| enjoyment of the automobile over the years. The | | | | Street Journal article mentioned above points out, the |
| people who design those public service ads saying | | | | flood gates are opening up - potentially, that is. |
| "give driving 100% of your attention" do understand all | | | | What happens next depends on public reaction, politics, |
| of this. They just hope you'll try a little harder. | | | | the wiles and skills of the technology developers, and |
| Before there was texting there were drivers who | | | | the power of marketing. There are probably some |
| drove off the road into trees, drove full tilt into cars | | | | extremists who want everything off the dash, maybe |
| stopped on the shoulder, drove right through red lights | | | | even the radio, and others who want everything on. |
| without even seeing them. In one case that made | | | | How the safety issue plays out may depend as much |
| headlines in Canada some years back, a driver plowed | | | | on politics as the realities of safety and driver |
| into a group of brightly dressed cyclists, on a straight | | | | distraction. Can drivers be trusted? How much? What |
| flat road, on a bright day, in the middle of the morning! | | | | kind of laws and restrictions? |
| Police determined no drugs or alcohol were involved. | | | | These will all play a role in the future of driving and the |
| Friends of the cyclists wanted him charged with | | | | automobile. Hopefully, informed public discussion will |
| murder. | | | | play a major role in the outcomes. |
| Back in the 1970's a major study of road crash causes | | | | |