Peace and Planning

Lately I’ve been struggling with a conundrum. These days, it’s common for people to be so busy that the only time they see available on their calendars to catch up with loved ones is while they are driving. Maybe they’re squeezing in a quick check-in with a sibling while they’re driving to the grocery store a mile or two down the road. Perhaps they’re settling in for a long-overdue heart-to-heart with their friend from high school on a long drive to see family for the holidays. Or they might even be an elected official dialing in to legislate while driving to who-knows-where. Unfortunately, friends, it’s literally safe to say better to postpone any well-intentioned invites to catch up while a loved one is behind the wheel.

I actually didn’t discuss distracted driving in my comprehensive exam – so much to cover, so little space available within the word count limit – but it’s an important aspect of driver behavior and car design that warrants exploration. It’s also a topic that a lot of other folks have examined (which is, btw, basically the case with everything I write about here) so make sure to check out this War on Car episode on the issue, this Slate article for a deeper dive on the topic, this Streetsblog coverage for some of the whys behind distracted driving.

But first, let me stand up on this here old soapbox 🧼 and share a few thoughts. Distracted driving has become increasingly common as technology has proliferated and all those Zoom meetings lure us into the idea that we can be hyper-productive at work while performing our other job of keeping road users safe while operating a several-ton vehicle (perhaps others will follow St. Louis’s suit and extend this proposal to all instances of drive-ooming). According to a recent survey, at least 70% of drivers said they operated a cell phone while operating their vehicles.

It turns out having a tiny computer in our pocket is an oh-so-tempting chance to feed our brains mental junk food 🍭 So tempting, in fact, that car manufacturers have taken a page out of the food industry’s book by feeding us (often times GIANT) screens in our vehicles so we can be more easily distracted. While perhaps initially offered as ways to enhance vehicle performance or control car functions, these are increasingly called “infotainment” systems given that they’re also streaming us videos, music, and other juicy things. All these distractions lead to heartbreaking statistics: Distracted driving in the US caused more than 3,500 fatalities and more than 360,000 injuries in 2021, wherein people outside of a vehicle (pedestrians, cyclers, etc.) accounted for 18% of victims. Let’s look at why:

• Reading a five-second text while driving at a smooth 55 mph? That’s like driving blindfolded for the length of an entire football field.
• Driving while talking on a cell phone is as much of an impairment as driving drunk.
• It can take up to 27 seconds after issuing a voice command to a digital device to restore attention to driving. This is driven/exacerbated by the fact that these infotainment systems are often riddled with errors, so what seems like a simple ask to play a song might end up with you trying to hurriedly cancel the call to a rando you met once and saved as “Bad Idea Right?” – oops 🤷🏼‍♀️. P.S. the fact that these systems are “hands-free” doesn’t actually reduce cognitive loads.
• While talking with a passenger is better than talking on a cell phone, having a conversation with whoever called dibs poses its own risks, especially “near pedestrian crossing areas [where talking with a passenger] causes significant dysfunction in driving yielding behavior” (Sheykhfard et al., 2023)

Before anyone comes at me with the “what about distracted pedestrians” bit, I invite you to check out two Twitter accounts worth following for some helpful perspective. In sum, there is no equivalence between the two activities, given that one involves the privilege of operating a dangerous machine. Oh, and that driving distracted is illegal and walking distracted is not. For another useful reference point, I heard once (can’t recall where, apologies to the person whose idea this was but appreciate you!) the brilliant point that drivers crash into millions of inanimate objects that aren’t other (distracted) road users every year, like buildings, light poles, and guardrails…and I’m pretty sure those things aren’t watching cat videos 😼

So, what can you do to disrupt this troubling trend? First…put down the phone. Silence notifications so you aren’t bombarded with reasons to pick it back up. Avert your eyes from the honking screen on your dashboard. And pass on that alluring opportunity to schedule your doctor’s appointment while zipping over to Target for some 🧻

Until next time, I invite you to get curious – what comes to mind when you envision more peaceful streets? ✌️🚸

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For research articles on this topic, see:

Sheykhfard, A., Haghighi, F., & Das, S. (2023). How does talking with passengers threatens pedestrian life? An analysis of drivers’ performance based on real-world driving data. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 95, 464–479. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2023.05.010