Campaigning to curb distracted driving

The fight against distracted driving is really gaining momentum now. Today, the Today show featured Oprah's national No Phone Zone campaign and Meredith Vieira crashed in their mobile driving simulator while reaching for a cell phone. It was quite a demonstration and even ended with Meredith expressing her surprise using a curse word. Most of us will laugh Meredith nearly hitting the car ahead when distracted, we certainly all understand that the potential impact of distractions on driving in real life are not as humorous.

Technology-based interventions and mitigation strategies such as hands-free devices or speech interfaces have made some headway at helping reduce the potential effects of distraction on the roadway. These technologies have a long way to go and certainly do not address the primary concern, a distraction, regardless of difficulty, will always detract from driving performance to some degree even if it is only cognitive. So while we can make it easier for people to engage in other activities while driving, our best bet for driver safety is to get rid of it all together.

Legislation has been the primary method of removing distractions from the roadway, but most only address hand held activities such as dialing/holding a phone and texting. Additionally, these types of laws are difficult to enforce and there is evidence that they have had little impact on traffic crash rates. So if we can't effectively outlaw distraction, how should we proceed?

National campaigns such as Oprah's No Phone Zone, Distraction.gov, and grass root organizations such as Focus Driven have the potential to raise awareness about the safety impact of distracted driving and create a safety driven driving culture that will not stand for distracted drivers. Similar to seat belts, if we as a nation do not stand for distracted driving and oppose this activity then I believe that distractions will become less of an issue.

Unfortunately, I see two major roadblocks. First, the increase in availability and demand for mobile technology. Our culture is increasingly seeking ways to remain connected and this includes while driving. The problem with constant connectivity is that drivers will always have the option to seek information from activities other than driving. Additionally, people may be expected to remain connected all the time for work or family purposes, and feel compelled to be accessible at all times no matter what they are currently doing.

A second road block and one that is of greater concern is the automotive industry's desire to give their consumers everything they want and not everything they need. Everything they want in that consumers what all the latest and greatest technology, including both safety (e.g., collision warning systems) and entertainment (e.g., infotainment). I find it ironic that today GM is encouraging employees to take Oprah's "No Phone Zone Day" pledge, yet produce a vehicle that offers a number of different ways to interact with mobile technology while driving (article).

Of course I don't think auto manufacters should strip out anything that wasn't critical for driving from the vehicle. Nor do I think we should all rebel against connectivity and mobile technology. I would just want to acknowledge the difficult dilemma the industry and all of us face with distracted driving. We want vehicles that are safe and reliable and at the same time require that they are fun to drive and provide us entertainment when driving isn't entertaining enough.