The secret is out. “The brain appears to have a finite amount of space for tasks requiring attention,” according to The New York Times’ story on a recent Carnegie Mellon University report that used magnetic resonance images to study the brain activity of people doing one complex task compared with brain activity in people performing two tasks.
This explains why my husband came home from the grocery store last week with a fruit drink called “Mango Mango,” when I specifically asked him to get some kind of fruit drink, but not anything mango-flavored.
Evidently, the consequences can be more serious than being exposed to a new fruit juice (our family likes Mango Mango). People driving and talking on their wireless phones may be inclined to not perform either task well if either chore requires more than rote attention. By the way, researchers never actually studied the relationship between driving and talking on a wireless phone. However, that example was used in media coverage of the study because driving and dialing requires brain activity in two different parts of the brain.
Driver distraction is real, no doubt about it. The insurance companies can’t be far behind. In fact, insurance companies probably are better equipped to handle driving-and-dialing issues than state legislatures because it is a risk factor that needs to be considered when driving. You can’t legislate people to not multitask-or not talk to passengers in the car when driving.
Sitting around in the lunchroom, we journalists came up with a new way to test driver distraction that could be simulated on driver’s license tests. Based on the driver’s score, insurance rates would be adjusted, much like they are today for some items, like airbags and anti-lock brakes.
. How do you react to a bug that just flew in your eye? Or a contact lens that fell out?
. Can you change the radio station while changing lanes?
. What happens if a fly bites your foot while you are driving-your gas-pedal foot, no less?
. A child in the back seat repeatedly kicks the driver’s chair. Does your blood pressure rise to dangerous levels?
. Can you shave and drive at the same time? (This would be a trick question. Shaving while driving is disgusting. Anyone taking a driver’s license test who attempted this would flunk immediately and be forced to take a manners class.)
You get the idea.
Also, people who have hands-free devices installed in their cars would be given good driver discounts.
Making it a money issue may have more impact than any law or educational campaign.
