What causes distracted driving and it's possible solution?
Anything that takes the attention away from driving can be a distraction. Sending a text message, talking on a cell phone, and using a navigation system are a few examples of distracted driving. Any of these distractions can endanger the driver and others.
There are three main types of distraction: visual — taking eyes off the road; manual — taking hands off the wheel; and cognitive — taking mind off of driving.
Texting while driving is especially dangerous because it combines all three types of distraction. The urge to text is almost addictive — people tend to read and answer text messages and phone calls immediately by leaving cell phones turned on to not miss any messages or calls. Sending or reading a text message takes eyes off the road for about five (5) seconds, long enough to cover a football field while driving at fifty-five (55) miles per hour (mph).
The use of smartphones is on the daily life of Filipinos including driving which causes distraction on motorists. World Health Organization (WHO) in its 2015 Global Status Report on Road said that distracted driving is a serious and growing threat to road safety. The WHO also said that drivers talking on a cell phone are four times more likely to get into a crash than a driver who is not on the phone.
In order to know the smartphone activities of the motorists while driving on the road, the researchers conducted a survey to two hundred (200) participants composed of public and private utility vehicles. Smartphones that operate in Android 5.x (Lollipop) dominated the smartphone operating system from thirty-six percent (36%) of the motorists. Family member tops as motorists’ frequently received calls by garnering fifty-six point five percent (56.5%) and the same contact attains the same percentage which is fifty-six point five percent (56.5%) as frequently received SMS. In responding to received calls and SMS, while on the road, fifty-four point zero five percent (54.05%) of the motorists answer calls or call back only when they reached their destination and sixty-six point thirty one percent (66.31%) reads the message only also when they reached their destination. Aside from the basic communication services smartphone offers (calls and SMS), the motorists play music from their smartphones while driving.
Even though RA 10913 prohibits the use of mobile phones while driving, Anti-Distracted Driving Act allows the use of electronic devices but motorists should pull over to a safe spot or hands-free use of a cell phone through an earpiece or an in-car microphone.
Pulling over to a safe spot is sometimes not a good choice for motorists who are in a narrowed lane road or in a hurry, so some of them who can avail hands-free devices like headsets, stereo-type headsets, or car itself which has in-car headsets powered by Bluetooth use them to accept calls, but these devices are costly and battery inefficient for smartphones. To avoid these money and battery costs, the motorists may only rely on smartphone's resources like its built-in sensors to avoid distractions and at the same time, to assist incoming calls by using speech recognition.
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