Minnesota drivers know that distractions increase everyone’s risk on the road. Many different things can act as distractions, too. For example, you have likely heard of the dangers of texting while driving.
But what about other, lesser known forms of distraction? They are just as dangerous. Today, we will look at inattentional blindness, which affects drivers every day.
The purpose of inattentional blindness
The American Psychological Association talks about how inattentional blindness affects people every day. This is a natural psychological phenomenon that helps people on a daily basis. How? By allowing your brain to sort out the important details from the unimportant ones. If you cataloged every detail from every interaction in your day, it would overwhelm you. Inattentional blindness lets you discard what you do not need and focus on what you do.
How inattentional blindness negatively impacts drivers
Unfortunately, this goes against one of the most basic necessities of driving. All drivers need to know how to multitask. You cannot focus on one thing at a time on the road. You must pay attention to your speed, the traffic around you and any approaching dangers all at once. If you are “blinded” to other details, you may miss obvious dangers.
Some studies say that newer drivers are at the highest risk. This is because when you are new to driving, you are not used to multitasking yet to begin with. But inattentional blindness is natural for the human mind. It can impact any driver, no matter how long you have been driving. This is important for all drivers to keep in mind to increase road safety.