The Brain Is Too Slow to Drive & Use Cell Phone
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Comment| Wednesday, February 21st, 2007 | Kristen DiPaolo | CWK Producer |
“The task of driving and the task of communicating on the cell phone kind of play off the same area of the brain. So it’s got similar brain function for both tasks. [It is] the worst of multi-tasking. And the brain is just not set up to do that effectively. It’s sort of like giving 50 percent to each. And driving takes a lot more than fifty percent concentration.”
– Dr. Cathy Blusiewicz, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist
How well do teens drive while using a cell phone?
“I got into a car accident when I was 16,” answers 18-year-old Katie Gathers, “and I made a left turn without a light and I wasn’t paying attention and I was on my cell phone.”
“I usually text message a lot and find myself like swerving off the road,” admits 16-year-old Andrew Barksdale.
“Normally it’s scrolling through my phone looking for a name or something like that,” says 17-year-old Mack Burgess, “and then you look up and a car in front of you slows down or stops and you don’t have as much time to react.”
“Mostly when cars stop in front of me,” says 16-year-old Chris Treible, “a lot of times you are looking down texting or whatever and you look up and they are stopped, and you just barely missed them. Or, sometimes, in my case, I did hit one person.”
According to research from Vanderbilt University, no one can drive safely while using a cell phone. The human brain is not wired to both talk and drive.
“The task of driving, and the task of communicating on the cell phone kind of play off the same area of the brain,” says clinical psychologist Dr. Cathy Blusiewicz, “so it’s got similar brain function for both tasks. [It is] the worst of multi-tasking. And the brain is just not set up to do that effectively. It’s sort of like giving 50 percent to each. And driving takes a lot more than fifty percent concentration.”
Research shows that our brains are fast - but not fast enough for two demanding tasks.
And, according to Australian research, text messaging increases the amount of time our eyes are off the road by 400 percent.
“You might as well be driving with a bag over your head that you take off occasionally,” says Blusiewicz, “It’s a recipe for disaster.”
And that disaster could get worse.
Recent surveys show that nearly 40 percent of teens now admit to text messaging while driving.
Experts say parents must intervene.
“Set down some rules and talk to them about, ‘If you have to make a call, you have to pull over,’” says Blusiewicz. “’You have to find a place where you are not driving.’”
Legislators in Arizona are trying to make DWT – ‘driving while texting’ - a crime. Meanwhile, troopers in Washington State report that cell phones- including text messaging- account for 14 percent of the state’s accidents.
Tips for Parents
- Be a good role model. Do not use your cell phone while driving. (Ted Waldbart, Safe America Foundation)
- Talk to your teen about the consequences of cell phone use while driving. Teens do respect science, so parents should arm themselves with statistics and information from the latest medical studies. (Cathy Blusiewicz, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist)
- Forbid kids from using a cell phone or text messaging while driving. Make them sign a contract agreeing to these rules. If you catch kids using a cell phone at the wheel, revoke their driving privileges. (Ted Waldbart, Safe America Foundation)
References
- Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company
- Vanderbilt University
- MONASH University Accident Research Center, Australia
- Safe America Foundation
- National Safety Council
