Distracted driving is one of the most common causes of road accidents across the world. Scientists have found out that the ultimate cause of distraction is using a phone while on the road.
Some drivers can still drive safe while daydreaming and that is because of a sort of "sixth sense" that protects them from ramming their car onto other cars or to outside the road. However, that sense is taken out if the driver tries to text or use their phones.
Researchers have conducted a study where they found out that distracted driving is more dangerous than absent-minded driving. In fact, the latter can even improve driving up to a certain point.
The scientists from the University of Houston and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute have conducted a study where they found out that smartphones can be the cause of impairing the cognitive process that protects drivers, Gizmodo Australia reported. They had recruited 59 participants to partake in their study.
Participants were put under a driving simulator that tested their driving and awareness skills. They were required to drive on the same highway segment for four times but with varying conditions.
One of the conditions was that they drive while texting. The others involved asking the participants emotional and mathematical questions.
All of the other distracted conditions resulted in "jittery" driving behavior, Motherboard reported. However, the texting while driving condition was the most dangerous of all as the drivers ended up deviating lanes or even crashing.
The researchers observed that absent-minded driving actually resulted into straighter trajectories when compared to their focused or normal driving. They said that it was because of the anterior cingulate cortex in the brain.
The ACC tries to compensate with the distractions caused by other things. Researchers called the ACC's function the "auto-pilot" feature of the human body.
Since the tests were conducted on driving simulators, the researchers want to conduct more tests on real driving conditions. They also aim to develop a monitor that would check the driver's bio-signatures and alert them if the distraction levels are deemed too high for driving on the road.