1. Distracted Driving Mark Chan Department of Psychology University of Kansas

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3. “Wobegon Effect” “all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average..” 3

4. 4 Gorilla Video

5. Inattentional Blindness The inability to see things when attention is directed elsewhere –What you see is what you get….. –What you see is NOT what you get… 5

6. 6 “Spotlight” of Attention

7. Change Blindness The inability to notice changes even when changes are big and obvious… 7

8. “Spotlight” of Attention 8

9. Change blindness 9

10. Multi-tasking? 10

11. 11 Just et al, 2001 12

12. WHAT’S HAPPENING? “A B C, it’s easy as 1 2 3”.. 12

13. Multi-tasking? 13 Multitasking does not exist. We “task switch”. Our brains “choose” what information to process, given LIMTED RESOURCES.

14. Task switching requires resources Prefrontal cortex (PFC) coordinates selection, execution, and responses. –“Executive Attention” – Last region to reach maturity 14

15. “Spotlight” of Attention 15

16. Distracted Driving Driving while talking on the cell phone.. –Slower reaction times –Miss peripheral objects –Poorer vehicle control Risk of crashing? –2 to 6 times increase 16

17. Whre are you?! Whatever … sry Meh Duh.. WTH?! Cool! ……. Srsly? Whoa! I h8 skool.. 17 EZ K Cool What up?! LOL!!! ROFL!! L8r! Hey! Where you at? 4got C U l8r b4 : ) : ( : D ; ) : P Huh?! Y U NO CALL?! Wut? XOXOXO gtg ttyl IC, IC Dude! Gotta study.. Nite! ?!??!!! Yes! No Watcha doin? Coffee? ZzzZzz Game l8r? OMG!! OMG!!! HALO? COD my place! R U there? Where R U?!? K K K : P 1 TRILLION TEXT MESSAGES in 2008!! (CITA, 2009) 17

18. Distracted Driving Texting while driving? Risk of crashing? –23 times more likely 18

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22. 22 Starting young…

23. Earlier Adoption of Cellphones 23 (Geser, 2006)

24. More texts everywhere.. 24 (Geser, 2006)

25. Young and dangerous.. 25 (FARS, 2003)

26. TEXT MESSAGING, PROHIBITED Chapter 8, Article 15, Section 111 26 -Kansas texting law, Senate Bill 300. Effective Jan 01, 2011

27. States banning texting while driving 27

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29. 29 “Don’t tell me what to do” “While these aren’t the craziest fines in the world, the fact that the government is so strictly regulating what we do in our cars frustrates me. I’m not going to pretend like this is the worst thing to happen to me, but I’m bothered that now not only do I need to interrupt my phone call when I see an officer, I also need to make sure it doesn’t look like I’m punching the buttons.” Scott Pearring, January 9, 2009

30. WHAT CAN WE DO? We have a problem here… 30

31. Can you wait, or not? Teens who can’t text –Have reduced self-esteem –Feel excluded Are we addicted to texting? –Need to reply immediately? 31 (Atchley, & Warden, 2011)

32. - Norms - 32

33. What can (did) we do? Case Study: Drunk driving –Common (in the past) Slap on the wrist –Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) –Attitudes and norms changed 33

34. What can we do about distracted driving? We are social creatures –Leverage the social aspect –We care for others, that is the norm How can we go about changing norms? –Reinforce safe habits –Be willing to talk about the danger –Start young! 34

35. A Proverb “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it..” 35

36. Questions? Contact info: mchan5@ku.edu 36