KU researcher tells safety summit participants why people drive distracted

Idaho Highway Safety Summit looks at growing a culture of safety

A big contributor to distracted driving is the human brain, said a University of Kansas researcher to more than 200 people in Boise representing law enforcement, emergency medical services and highway safety.

Professor Paul Atchley, associate chair of undergraduate studies and director of the Cognitive Psychology program at KU, was a keynote speaker at the 2014 Idaho Highway Safety Summit who guided summit participants on a tour through the “distracted” brain.

“Our brains fool us into thinking that the world is not as potentially dangerous than it really is,” he told participants. “When we drive down the road we think we see more than we really see.

“Your brain, except where you are looking, doesn’t really see all that much.” He went on to explain that experience best tells a driver where to expect potential threats.

Atchley also talked about how the earlier and deeper adoption of new smart-phone technology has gotten into our heads and the heads of our children.

“Our brains have become wired for smart phones,” he said.  Smart phones seem to promote dopamine, or reward-chemical, surges in the brain.

Some of the statistics Atchley and his student researchers uncovered are sobering. They found that approximately one out ten of us is distracted while driving at any given time. They learned that while most people know how bad texting and driving is, 97 percent of college students have texted while driving.

“Being in a vehicle, for someone under 25, is the single most risky thing that person can do,” he said, adding that, nationwide, eight young people die and 960 are taken to the emergency room each day.
 
“We have to change behaviors in order to change attitudes,” he said. “People are ready to ban distractions.”

He cited a growing number of corporate bans on distracted driving, and research showing that enforcing distracted driving-type laws has a dramatic effect on decreasing related crashes.

He cautioned that while technology may be part of the solution, it would probably not save us. “All technology requires attention,” he added that automobile manufacturers continue to put new technology features in cars that are features deemed unsafe in other countries.

“We need to be smart about the technology we allow in our vehicles,” he said.

In addition to Atchley’s talk, summit participants learned about the anatomy of a fatal collision and how every crash investigation tells a story and teaches something new.

Sgt. Mark Crandall, Washington State Drug Recognition Expert coordinator; Lt. Marcia Harnden, Bellevue, Wash., Police Department; and Amy Freedheim, senior deputy prosecutor, King County, Wash, made the presentation.

Their talk focused on taking summit participants inside the front lines of a real fatal-crash investigation, with dash-cam video, interviews with the initial officers on the scene, and dialogue between law enforcement and the prosecutor on the case.

Summit workshop topics included new drug-concentrate trends, child-passenger safety, the eight questions to ask when a cell phone is found at a crash scene, time-sensitive emergencies, traffic laws and separatists, WebCars data, Enforcing Idaho’s texting laws, measuring the distance between moving cars, Buckle up for Bobby and current transportation legislation.

Jay Otto, with the Center for Health and Safety Culture, provided an update on ITD’s Courageous Voices project to change behavior and end impaired driving in Idaho.

(Top to bottom) More than 200 attended the 2014 Idaho Highway Safety Summit. Professor Paul Atchley spoke to summit participants about how the human brain contributes to distracted driving. Boise Police Department Kyle Wills helped take the confusion out of child passenger safety at one of the many workshops offered during the summit.

Published 4-18-14