How thoughts and emotions affect your driving behaviors

How brain affects driving? Too much THINKING can be just as DANGEROUS as texting or talking on the phone. Send Drivers don't need to be texting or talking on mobile phones to be distracted enough to get | in trouble on the road, even too much thinking can result the same, rescarchers have warned. { A driver's ability to focus on the driving environment varies depending on the cognitive demand of a non-driving activity. } | The cognitive demands between texting, talking on the phone, and deep thinking are very similar. | ENon-driving cognitive demand Less than 87% 81% - 78% 10 difference Texting Talking Thinking Зer 108 volunteers in various age ranges were asked to drive the same type of sedan while repeating a series of numbers that have three different difficulty levels. The HARDER it gets, the LESS SCANNING there is. ))) Scanning >> Not Scanning 100% scanning Easy No. Medium No. Hard No. Easy Level 8, 4, 6, 7, 33 Medium Level 6, 5, 17, 66, 25, 100 Easy Medium Not Scanning 20% Not Scanning 40% during the drive Low Risks: during the drive Moderate Risks: - Experience dimmed observation and reaction times - Fail to recognize abrupt slowing of traffic or debris in the road - Experience impaired observation and reaction times - Fail to recognize abrupt slowing of traffic or debris on the road - Slow at predicting what other drivers are doing - Make risky mancuvers and risky changes Hard Level 3, 9, 83, 89, 64, 88, 89 70% Hard Scanning 30% only NOT Scanning during the drive High Risks: - Experience impaired observation and reaction times - Fail to recognize abrupt slowing of traffic or debris - Unable to predict or to determine other drivers - Make risky maneuvers and risky changes - Lose the ability to perform precise timing skills. - Feel detached from conditions on the road. ISTRACTED DRIVERS who are focused on the road ahead but not on the surrounding environment, actually drive straighter but have been shown to react slower to a car braking in front of them. How common is zone-out driving? Out of 20,000 accumulated surveyed participants in North America 20,000 people 15,000 people answered that they had zoned-out while driving before. YES 1,000 people said they experienced it daily MOST ARE COMMUTERS Majority of these drivers are typically drivers who drive a lot and use the car every day to commute. EMOTIONS (whether positive or negative) can have a powerful effect on drivers of all ages. 97% Percentage of drivers who experienced or seen emotional effects in driving (2013) stressed out Main Causes: - Excessive workload, deadlines - Divorce, breakup - Financial problems, bills 85% 74% very upset over-excited Main Causes: - Relationship arguments Family dispute, sibling quarrels - Office politics, bad boss, warning letters Main Causes: - Winning money, promotion - Vacation, party, special occasions 0% Strong negative emotions can result in agressive behavior known as "ROAD RAGE" and has been seen by more than half of the respondents. Strong positive emotions caused people to become more prone to dimmed vision and zone-out driving. drown get emotions in NEGATIVE EMOTIONS can easily influence drivers especially during rush hour 00:00 03:00 06:00 09:00 12:00 15:00 18:00 00:00 21:00 TIME OF DAY rush hour rush hour Grumpy Frustrated Pissed-off NEGATIVE EMOTIONS Reported "road rage" incidents mostly happened at these peak hours of the day. Worse negative emotions More traffic • Workers and students who eat out for lunch will be rushing back to workplaces or schools. How traffic of a typical WEEKDAY 12 • Many COLLEGE STUDENTS leave for | contribute to Idrivers' emotions school at these hours, also there might be workers running late. • Drivers just got out of work and many of them are trying to run errands before coming DESTINATONS home for dinner or a date. • Most drivers are usually tired due to the lack of sleep, so it is easy for them to get angry as they are trying to get to work or school. If you are worried, upset, frightened, depressed, or even happily excited, your driving skills can be as negatively impacted as they would be if youU were engaged in an intense phone call or after having consumed several alcoholic drinks. Remember that every second you are driving, there will always be risks of accidents. Therefore it is important to keep emotions in control and focus on the road. Every thoughts can make a HUGE difference in driving safety. YOU MADE IT!