All of us at one time or another has driven while distracted. When you drive distracted you are taking chances and are putting other people at risk. This video—taken by a passenger—shows a professional bus driver who makes his living driving other people and who is responsible for the lives and safety of his passengers.
The bus driver is risking the safety of his passengers. He also is risking the safety of other motorists and people outside the bus.
There is no question that the driver is being selfish. He is more concerned with completing his paperwork than the safety of anyone else by constantly taking his eyes off the road and not concentrating on what he is expected to do.
All other drivers on the road are also expected to do just one job—drive their vehicle. Unfortunately, we see all kinds of things on the road that can distract drivers or who are simply not giving their whole attention to just driving.
Now, let’s break down what the driver was doing as far as visual and cognitive distractions:
Here is a still image from the video. The bus driver is working on a document instead of steering the wheel or keeping his hands on the wheel. Drivers frequently take their hands off the wheel while driving to adjust a mirror, answer their cell phones, change the radio station, reach into their pockets or glove compartment or take a bite of some food. This is called “manual distraction” because the driver is doing something else with his hands other than driving.
In this photo, the driver is constantly taking his eyes off the road. This is a “visual distraction” because he is having to read what he is writing and where to write it. Other types of visual distractions include looking at a map, looking at a passenger instead of the road, looking a a cell phone to text or place a call, or programming a GPS.
In this photo, the driver is filling out his paperwork and probably thinking about what he is writing and reading instead of driving. While doing this, the driver is not thinking about keeping his passengers safe. By not focusing on driving, the driver is engaged in “cognitive distraction” or brain distraction because his mind is not on his driving.
This image illustrates the driver being distracted in three ways:
Manually: his hands are not on the wheel
Visually: he is not looking at the road
Cognitively: he is not thinking about driving
Any one of these distractions can lead to a serious accident. When all three are at play, the driver is playing an extremely dangerous and selfish game.
