Cover Story

Dangerous distraction

Psychologists' research shows how cell phones, iPods and other technologies make us more accident prone and is laying the foundation to make using these gadgets less dangerous.

By Amy Novotney
Monitor Staff
February 2009, Vol 40, No. 2
Print version: page 32

http://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/02/dangerous.aspx

          This is another article from, Monitor on Psychology, A Publication of the American Psychological Association.  It is full of information and research that is being done on distracted driving.  The section that I found most interesting was on Psychology Solutions.  They have found, “that providing real-time and post-drive feedback to drivers on how well they're doing behind the wheel will help mitigate distraction.  With the help of eye-tracking technology, Lee's team has designed an alert system that monitors what motorists are looking at and warns them when their eyes veer away from the road for more than two seconds.” (Paragraph 20)  This reminds me of the super annoying beep that goes off in new cars when someone in the car does not have their seat belt on.  I have always been one who forgets to put my seat belt on right when I get in the car.  With the help of the annoying beep, this is not an option.  If this new eye-tracking technology were to be required in all vehicles and it had the same annoying beep every time I took my eyes off the road, I would never look at my cell phone again while driving!  Here is a video I found from a company who is developing this new technology.