When we think of psychologists, we often first think of either clinicians or people who create and use tests. However, while often not as visible, it is important to remember that psychology is filled with people who study all sorts of things related to behavior. One area of psychological research that I have found interesting to follow as of late is on the relationship between multi-tasking and attention, and, more specifically, perhaps because I see it all the time getting back and forth to work, cell phone use and driving. As might be expected, the topic which has garnered quite a bit of press coverage in recent months.

In one of my favorite studies, researchers at Western Washington University had a clown ride a unicycle around a sculpture (see picture on p. 6) on the main campus quad. Then, they interviewed students who walked by and asked if they had seen anything unusual. Rather shockingly, only 25% of the phone-using passersby (vs. over half of people who were doing other things like listening to music or simply walking) remembered seeing the clown. More specifically to the question of driving, recent research  indicates that when drivers text, they avert their eyes from the road for nearly 5 seconds. Similarly,  other studies using driving simulators have found that the risk of a crash increased by a factor of eight when drivers are texting. I think that the takeaway lesson is quite clear that using a cellphone while driving needlessly puts everyone on the road in danger. 

Update: Here is an article  on the challenges  faced by police and emergency responder who not only deal with cell phones while driving but dashboards that are often filled with computers, navigation systems, and radios—all of which they sometimes need to use operating their vehicles at high speeds. As one officer puts it “there’s no way you could do this without eventually running into something.”

Reid Klion