Multitasking: It’s Not What You Think
To be a good multitasker is generally referred to in a positive way. You can manage several projects at work, or manage to keep your house in order while caring for your family.
Multitasking is something that our nation values and many employers depend on it.
But, what people do not think about is the dangers that multitasking can bring to the roadways.
Many professionals have email on their phone, so they tend to check their emails or answer important phone calls when they’re en route to a destination. Doing these things takes cognitive abilities, and what many do not realize is that it is not safe to take on a cognitive task while you are behind the wheel because it is not safe to do so. The human brain cannot handle two cognitive difficult tasks at a time.
A telephone conversation is more cognitively demanding than we have known. And it is obvious that driving a vehicle is cognitively demanding as well. So, if the brain can’t handle both tasks at the same time, which one will it choose – the phone conversation or your safety behind the wheel? The smartest thing to do is to not put yourself in the situation in which you have to choose.
The consequences of distracted driving can be very serious. You cannot expect yourself to be able to drive through a dynamic environment while holding a phone conversation, or responding to an email, and expect to react as fast as you need to when an event happens on the road.
If you have been involved in an accident due to another driver’s negligence, call our Ohio car accident attorneys at 800.637.8170. Our office has released several articles on the dangers of multitasking behind the wheel, and we want to do our part to put an end to this dangerous epidemic on the roadways.
