Keeping it Real Behind the Wheel

1. Keeping it RealBehind the Wheel Your Name Here Title Agency

2. “To do two things at once is to do neither.” Publilius Syrus, Roman slave First century B.C.

3. Keep you safe on the road Teens have the highest crash risk of any age group. The age group with the greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the under-20 age group. (NHTSA) Limited driving experience Passengers Alcohol use Not wearing seat belts Sleep deprivation Cell phones and texting Motor vehicle crashes is the leading cause of death of 3 – 34 year olds. __%of the crashes in (Your) County resulted from driver inattention/distraction in 2010. (www.safeny.ny.gov)* Statistics

4. What is Distracted Driving? Visual– something that takes your eyes off the road • In-car technology • Out-of-car distractions Cognitive– something that takes your mind off the road • Emotions – road rage, conversations, drowsiness, sickness • People usually don’t realize when they are cognitively distracted. Manual – something that takes your hands off the wheel • Cell phones • I-pods • Laptops

5. Drowsy Driving is Distracted Driving“100,000 crashes each year are caused by fatigued drivers.” Who’s at risk? – Young people (16-29 year olds) “Drivers under the age of 25 are involved in more than ½ of all crashes in which drivers have fallen asleep.” What are some warning signs of drowsy driving? How do we avoid driving while tired? • Get enough sleep • Avoid alcohol • Limit driving between midnight-6am • Drink caffeine • Recognize the signs and take action! Source: National Sleep Foundation

6. Drowsy Driving in Broome County*

7. Cell Phone Exercise • Volunteer: Fast texter • “I have to have the car home by nine or my parents will kill me.” • Record: 7.5 seconds

8. Driver Distractions • For every 1 mile per hour, a car travels 1.47 feet per second. • Traveling at 40 mph, a car will travel 59 feet in 1 second. • If you take your eyes off the road for 2 seconds, you’ve just traveled 118 feet. • The average response time is about 1.5 seconds. • Your total distance traveled is 206.5 feet before you could step on the brake or take evasive action.

9. That is… • 13 Toyota Camrys • 25 Mini Coopers • 3 18 Wheelers • Just short a 747 • 70 yards on a football field

10. Multitasking and the Brain • Human brains do not perform two tasks at the same time. • Process: • Select information brain will attend to • Process information • Encode to create a memory • Store information • Retrieve • Execute or act on information

11. Distractions and the Brain Marcel Just, Director of the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

12. Main result: The parietal activation associated with driving decreases substantially (by 37%) with sentence listening. Driving While Sentence Listening Driving Alone

13. Increase in Driver Error • Increase in weaving • Increase in the number of hits to the side of the road • 8.7 hits in driving alone • 12.8 hit in driving with sentences • Our brains can’t do two things at once

15. Inattention Blindness

16. Encoding Stage • Brain filters information due to overload • Drivers not aware of information filtered out • Information does not get into memory • Drivers miss critical information on potential hazards

19. “Looking But Not Seeing” • Drivers using cell phones fail to see up to 50% of the information in their driving environment. • Hands-free is not risk free. Less likely to see: • High and low relevant objects • Visual cues • Exits, red lights and stop signs • Navigational signage • Content of objects

20. The Monkey Business Illusion « The Invisible Gorilla • A driver must always be prepared to respond to the unexpected. • If we are multitasking- we cannot do that.

21. Passenger Conversations • Adult passengers share awareness of driving situation, a safety benefit. • Front seat passenger reduce crash risk by 38% compared to cell phone conversations. • Adults with passengers have lower crash rates than adults without passengers. • Not true for novice teen drivers

22. “To do two things at once is to do neither.” Publilius Syrus, Roman slave First century B.C.

23. Consequences of a Crash • Fatalities • Injuries • 450,000 teenagers are injured but survive. • Broken bones • Bruising • Traumatic brain injury (lifelong) • Spinal cord injury • 30,000 are hospitalized

24. Turn off the phone Four times more likely to crash on a cell phone. Hands-free is not necessarily risk-free. Your brain doesn’t know the difference. Effective July 12: Illegal to use handheld electronic devices while vehicle is in motion. 3 driver penalty points and $150 fine. Primary offence. Plan ahead Have alternate routes in mind. Give yourself enough time. Make adjustments Adjust music, climate controls, GPS devices and mirrors BEFORE you drive. Designate a rider Help you navigate, be an alternate driver, answer text messages and phone calls for you. Have the right attitude about driving You are driving a 3,000lb weapon with the potential to kill. *Remember, you might be the safest driver on the road but that doesn’t mean everyone else is. So make good choices and use common sense.* Distracted Driving is Deadly Source: National Road Safety Foundation

25. Any questions? Picture taken from Nationwide Insurance Distracted Driver Survey Bill Windsor Associate Vice President of Safety