A Lack of Road Environment Awareness
Distraction reduces the driver's awareness, either visually or mentally, of the events taking place on the road. Cell phone use can cause inattention blindness where a driver with perfectly good vision fails to see cars and objects on the road. Accidents are more likely to occur at intersections, which involve traffic coming and going in multiple directions. Safely negotiating such a complex situation demands an alert and focused mind. The distracted multitasker may be able to avoid collisions with cars and trucks, but often will fail to see pedestrians and motorcyclists. …show more content…
The defensive driver will notice the distracted pedestrian about to step off the curb and into the road in front of her. The sight of playing children next to the road will prompt the driver to slow down and be prepared to stop. Such a driver will notice the brake lights of traffic further down the road and will anticipate a sudden traffic slowdown.
The distracted driver will do none of these things and may even fail to react at the last second to these