ALT-1 Why you should only be Focused on the Road while Driving
I despair of how stupid my fellow human beings are when driving their cars. The idea of the man in your life managing to talk on a mobile phone, while using his electric shaver in the morning is beyond belief as it is. Doing both these tasks and driving through busy morning traffic is moving into jaw-dropping territory.
Yet I've watched men doing just this, and they are normally old enough to know better. Just look around you when you sit in traffic of a morning and you will see just as bad behaviour. From the woman with one hand tightly entwined in her hair, while driving at seventy miles an hour along a slip road onto a motorway, to the numpty reading his newspaper while driving passed a school.
We are just not that clever, no one is. You are sitting in a lump of metal, driving along the road with people and animals, all with a death wish leaping out at you on every side. So pay attention to what's happening around you.
There is a newly released study in America, where they had unicycling clowns riding up and down the street. No one using a mobile phone noticed them; their whole attention was on the call.
Have you ever driven on that same old road, at the same time of day, every day to get to your job. Admit it, how any times have you realised that you've just driven several miles, and have no recollection of having done so. The brain is capable of going onto automatic pilot when doing a repetitive task. That is why you can daydream and walk at the same time.
Thing is, what happens if the car in front of you stops suddenly while you're day-dreaming in your car. The same thing that happens when your too busy texting your friend, or shaving, or reading your mail. You crash into the car in front, and you're to blame.
If you're not giving your full attention to driving, you are turning yourself into an accident waiting to happen. You can't react in time to events, because those vital signs that something is about to happen will be missed. Not only will you be to blame for the accident, but also your insurance premium will be increased.
Even worse, your lack of attention could kill someone. You could be responsible for the death of either a pedestrian, another driver, or even worse, if that's possible, one of your own family. If you want to kill yourself, go somewhere quiet and don't involve other people. Give the rest of us a bit of respect by paying attention to what's happening around you. We don't deserve to be hurt by your stupidity.
