Distracted Driving Study

A 100 car study performed by the National Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (NVCCS), found that distractions are a common occurrence and distractions that require the driver to take their eyes off the road are potentially more dangerous that purely cognitive distractions. The results below show the odds of risk for these secondary distractions. The findings may surprise you.

* TYPE OF SECONDARY-------TASK ODDS RATIO

Reaching for a moving object---8.82
Insect in vehicle---6.37
Looking at external object---3.70
Reading---3.38
Applying makeup---3.13
Dialing hand-held device---2.79
Inserting/Retrieving CD---2.25
Eating---1.57
Reaching for non-moving object---1.38
Talking/Listening to hand-held device---1.29
Drinking from open container---1.03
Other personal hygiene---0.70
Adjusting Radio---0.50
Passenger in adjacent seat---0.50
Passenger in rear seat---0.39
Child in rear seat---0.33

So according to this table you can see that reaching for a moving object increases the risk of a collision by more than eight times that of regular driving. I bet if you try hard, you can find things that you do on this list.....how could you avoid doing these things? What steps could you take?

*NHTSA (2008, July) National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Study report to congress. DOT HS 811 059 Washington, D.C. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration