Nov 6, 2019, 09:06 AM by Robin Sutton

According to a new review, it is important to know that drivers are distracted the moment they take their mind off the road. Talking while driving – whether on a cellphone or simply conversing with a passenger – undermines road safety, a review claims. Researchers found that drivers who talk are less safe than drivers who stay quiet!

A common misconception is that tasks that allow drivers to keep their eyes on the road are distraction-free, but there is more to distraction than just visual attention. It is important to know that distraction occurs whenever drivers take their mind off the road.

Researchers found that a phone, which requires the driver to momentarily look away from the road, was detrimental to driving performance which is nothing new however, tasks that do not require the driver to look away from the road – such as talking on a hand-held or hands-free phone or to a passenger – also had negative effects on driving performance.
One finding is more concerning - conversation with passengers. Although generally socially accepted and nearly universally common when it comes to undermining driver attention the effects of conversation with passengers on driving performance are similar to those exerted by mobile phone conversation.
Interestingly hands-free calls cause similar levels of risk as hand-held calls; the call itself is the main distraction, not holding the phone. Brain scanning and simulations have confirmed speaking on a hands-free phone reduces the visual processing power available in the brain and drivers experience ‘visual tunnelling’, narrowing their field of vision.
In one research project, people using a driving simulator were spoken to through a loud speaker and asked simple questions that required them to think about something unrelated to driving. These drivers took nearly a second longer to respond to a pedestrian stepping off a pavement than undistracted participants in the research.  A car driven at 30mph travels about three car lengths in one second.

A thought that is repeated on many driving related sites is that commentary driving can cause distraction and actually reduce concentration. Commentary driving may not be for everyone. If you are a quiet person and perhaps a bit shy, you may struggle to speak out-loud in front of someone whilst driving and the process may in itself cause you to concentrate less on your driving. There are clearly benefits to many, for instance it can help in shutting out thoughts not related to driving or to revive  concentration but does more thought need to be given to the practice needed for spoken thoughts and even accept that it may not be appropriate for everyone?