Hang up the phone and drive!

Just hang up the phone and drive! Yes, you live a busy life in a very busy world. You're rushing here and rushing there... Jimmy to baseball practice... Susie to gymnastics... and Joey to the scout meeting. There's dinner to cook, laundry to be done, the house to be cleaned, the yard to be mowed, the garage to be cleaned out, the vacation to plan and those phone calls that need to be made to coordinate the hundred other things you have straining your time. So you learn to multitask. There's only one problem. Multitasking while you are driving a vehicle is very dangerous... even if you think you're good at it.

There aren't many aspects of my life where I could say, with confidence, that I possess expert knowledge. However, if there is one field I feel I have studied extensively it's situation awareness and making decisions under stressful conditions. I've spoken on the topic a few times (even won an international research award) and written about it a few times. I even have written a book and made a video on the topic. Ok... I hope you're convinced I know a little about it.

The human brain is a wonderful creation. It has been estimated that an average person's brain has more capacity than any computer yet invented. Your brain, much like a computer, has two types of memory, the memory that stores the things you are currently working on. In a computer that's called RAM. In your brain that's called short-term or working memory. There is also a second memory for things you don't need to use right away so they're stored away for safe keeping. In a computer that location is called the hard drive. In your brain it's called your long-term memory.

Your short term memory has a limited capacity while your long term memory is much more expansive. The challenge comes when you are doing multiple things that require the use of your short term memory... like driving a car and talking on your cell phone. Back to the computer example. If you try to run two programs at the same time and their collective needs exceed the capacity of your computer's short term memory, you're going to see some undesirable things happen, like stuttering visuals or audios or the computer freezing up completely. You don't see this so much these days with modern computers that have multiple processors (two brains). But in the days of old when software was being developed faster than people were buying new computers to keep up with it, freezing and stuttering were common.

As you drive a car, your brain receives messages that are processed using the short term memory. There are visual cues like stop lights and other calls. There are sounds like your motor, other cars, and sirens. You physically feel things happening, like when the car speeds up or slows down or makes a turn. There are smells, like burning oil or overheated breaks. There is the sixth sense, intuition, that gives you certain feelings about things that may happen, like your ability to predict when someone is going to cut in front of you before they even start to and you just know it's going to happen. All of these things consume working memory.

As you talk on your telephone, your brain receives messages that are also processed using your short term memory. Your brain processes the things that are talked about and forms mental images of your conversations. You think about what is being said to you and what you are going to say in return. Your emotions are stirred by what is said. All of these things also consumes your working memory.

It doesn't take long for you to be overloaded or for your brain to give priority to the telephone conversation and your driving goes on 'autopilot.' The good thing about your brain is it remembers its lessons well and can draw on information quickly from the long-term memory when needed. Red light... brain tells you to stop... even if you're not consciously thinking about it. That's a good thing.

The problem is when you're talking on your phone you may not be capturing the cues and clues necessary for your brain to know 'automatically' what to do. Your brain cannot know, for example, the light is red if you're not looking in that direction.

The problem gets even worse in newer drivers because they have not developed their expertise at driving to those automatic responses that adults can develop with experience are missing. Even when they are paying attention, novice drivers are not as perceptive at capturing the subtle cues and clues. The things they are supposed to be looking for are not obvious and they don't know how to look seek that information yet. Or they may find it, but not know what it means.

I like to play a game with my teenager where I predict what other drivers are going to do before they even do it... a lane change... turning without a signal... a nose pick. It can be a fun game. My kids think my clairvoyant. I'm not... I'm just perceptive. I see things they don't. My intuition is well-developed and I can sense things that are going to happen. In Star Wars terms... I use the force.

Talking on your cell phone as you drive can be as dangerous as drinking while you drive. Both dull your senses in their own unique way. You've seen people driving like they're drunk... all over the road. And then you see they're not drunk, they're just talking on their cell phones.

Fortunately, most people know it's dangerous to drink and drive. Unfortunately, there are an estimated 1oo million people to talk on their cell phones while they drive... and we have the accident statistics that demonstrates the consequences too. So... hang up the phone and drive.