Driving or Not

Distractions! Distractions! Distractions! You can be distracted by almost anything. Thinking about what I should write my paper #2 on I thought it would be interesting to talk about the distraction while driving. I’ve been thinking about all the things I could possible write about, whether it’s from personal experiences, blogs, and peer reviewed articles.  As I was driving to work taking Vermont all the up to the 101N freeway, I reached for my phone and realized that I was one of those drives who takes chances by being on their phone. Personally I don’t see anything wrong with checking your phone at a red light for a second, but it becomes a problem when you take longer then 2 seconds. As I put my phone down, I looked to my left and there was a lady who was putting on her mascara. She was driving the opposite way of me and the light had turned green but because she was way to involve on her eyelids, she was at a dead stop until the car behind her decided to honk the horn. On distractions.gov they list nine distractions that are known to drivers: texting, using a cell phone or smartphone, eating and drinking, talking to passengers, grooming, reading, including maps, using a navigation system, watching a video, adjusting a radio, CD player, or MP3. There are so many more distractions that are a problem that have nothing to do with having your hands pre occupied. People don’t understand that things on the outside are even more distracting because your eyes are wondering else were, instead of your attention being in front. Traffic, advertisements, and billboards can all be correlated to be just as equivalent to be a distraction. Next time you take a drive, while at a stop light take a quick glance around and look at the cars next too you. You will be amazed at the amount of people who are doing something else instead of paying attention to the road.