A 2005 Virginia Tech Transportation Institute Study on driver distraction gives scientific support to the decades-old folk wisdom that driving is a full-time job.  Virginia Tech, however does not explain why drivers are so distracted.  The truth is that they choose to be.

There are two kinds of distraction, the involuntary and the voluntary.  An involuntary distraction is something like a bee flying into the car or a driver’s sneezing fit.  A voluntary distraction is something like reading, shaving, cell-phoning, texting, writing, eating, applying make-up, etc.

Involuntary distractions are natural, random, and virtually unpreventable.  Voluntary distractions, on the other hand, are sought and planned.  For example, one might go to a movie to “distract” one’s self from some family, job, or health problem.  There are also what might be termed necessary distractions in driving like looking for a certain address or a parking space.

The distractions of concern to road safety experts are the voluntary ones, the freely chosen ones.  But why do drivers choose to be distracted?  Insanity?  Defiance?  Stupidity?

No, ignorance.  Drivers do not know what the full-time job of driving actually comprises.  They are not taught it in driver ed.  They are not informed of it by public safety campaigns.

Here’s help.  For any driver vehicle combination traveling any stretch of road at any given time, there is a specific amount of relevant data available.  Of that 100% a well trained full-time driver will perceive say 90%, while everybody else will perceive 15% to 20%  ( These are made-up figures, but they illustrate the point accurately.)  This whopping non perception of available, relevant driving information precludes the expected analysis and planning.  In other words, 80% to 85% of the driver’s job is routinely not done.  This experience leads to most drivers’ unconscious belief that there really isn’t all that much to do in the full-time  job of  driving after all.

Nature abhors a vacuum.  Voluntary distractions rush in to fill the apparent voids.  The voluntary distracted driver honestly believes he is aware of virtually all the available driving information and is not increasing his risk.  Virginia Tech’s study demonstrates that he is mistaken.

While Virginia Tech does verify experimentally the need to drive full-time, it offers no information on how to build the habit.  Such information is available.  Stunningly though, there is considerable evidence that the vested interests in road safety routinely suppress it.