On the roads, there are so many distractions which can alter our concentration, and make you lose focus. As a driver, you need to learn to control and avoid these distractions, so that they don’t become an issue for you, and for those around you, when you’re behind the wheel. This is especially hard for younger drivers, who have less experience. However I no way does this mean that younger drivers are worse drivers, and that more experienced drivers make less mistakes. But it does mean that due to their lack of experienced, they are more likely to not know how to deal with distractions that may occur.
After spending a fair amount of time behind the wheel, you soon learn the kind of things to keep your eyes focussed on, and those that move into your peripheral vision that you are aware of, but don’t necessarily see or pay attention to.
In many instances it’s not actually events taking place on or around the roads that distract us from our driving duties, it’s things that happen within the car that we can actually control. You can’t do much about the behaviour of other road users, or the things that pedestrians might be doing while stood on the pavement, but we can do something about factors that affect our own concentration like the music being played on the radio.
Driving with Distractions
One of the biggest distractions, as discussed in this video made by ingenie, is the type of music we play while in the car and also the volume. Loud music is going to be obvious to you no matter how much you try to keep your attention focussed on the road, but by turning it down to a more subtle level you will be able to listen to the sounds of the car and the road around you meaning you are much more likely to be able to react if something goes wrong.
Another of the major distractions is something that a lot of drivers can’t live without, and that’s the satellite navigation system. We rely so heavily upon these little devices to direct us to our destination that we often spend a lot of time looking at them throughout the journey, reading how many miles are left to go and how much longer it’s going to be until we get there. However, a lot of drivers are forced to change their travel plans due to things beyond their control – such as cancelled or rearranged meetings – and they start tapping away on the sat nav to try and get them on the right course to their new destination. While doing this they actually divert their attention away from the road and that can cause serious problems. If you really have to adjust the sat nav while on the road, get one of your passengers to do it for you.
