Manual\nDistractions<\/strong> are those where you move your hands from the\nwheel. Manual distractions include things like smoking in your vehicle, eating\nwhile driving, grooming while driving, holding a cell phone, changing the radio\nstation, if controls are not on the steering wheel and reaching to wake up your\ncomputer or tablet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From an actual 2015 collision report: \u201cD1 stated he looked at his work computer and saw it had fallen asleep. He stated he looked down at the lap top and moved his finger [manual distraction] across the finger pad to \u201cwake it up\u201d.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthis case, D1 claimed that he had a green light and that the other driver \u201cran\nthe red\u201d causing the collision.  Driver\n1\u2019s own dash cam showed his traffic light was clearly in the top red position\nwhen he entered the intersection, colliding with Driver 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nincident ended up being a six figure \u2013 almost 7 figure \u2013 insurance company\npayout and cost the repossession company involved dearly. The simple act of\nmoving his finger across the finger pad is a manual distraction. D1 in this\ncase was found to be at fault. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actions\nlike this are things that most any driver on the road today can find themselves\nguilty of. We all think that we are capable of multi-tasking – of doing more\nthan one thing at a time and to some degree we are; but we always need to\nremain vigilant and attentive when behind the wheel. It isn\u2019t only our own\nlives we are dealing with when we are behind the wheel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nyou\u2019re like most companies today and carrying $1 Million limits of liability as\nrequired by many of your contracts, every time you or an employee is behind the\nwheel, it is like giving them a million dollar blank check. We said it\nyesterday and will say it again\u2026distracted driving is no joke! It is important\nthat you have company training and policies that discuss distracted driving and\nhave enforceable consequences if\/when it occurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps\nthe hardest to explain, manage and deal with, Cognitive Distractions<\/strong> are those that take your mind off of\ndriving.   The thing about cognitive\ndistraction is that everyone, everywhere is almost always doing one thing while\nthinking about another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As\nhumans we believe we are extremely capable in terms of multi-tasking, and a lot\nof people can do more than one thing at a time\u2026. We\u2019ve all heard the comment\n\u201cThat person couldn\u2019t walk and chew gum.\u201d, when talking about someone who can\u2019t\ndo more than one simple thing at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nwith the stresses individuals feel on daily basis, can someone really avoid\ncognitive distractions?  How far can you\ntake this when dealing with distracted driving? \nThe problem here is that when we talked about Visual and Manual\ndistractions, the examples also involve Cognitive distraction as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nour first example from the crash report, the driver stated he looked away and\ndidn\u2019t realize that traffic had slowed in front of him.  In our second example, the driver stated he\nlooked down and moved his finger across the finger pad to wake up a lap top\nthat had gone into sleep mode.  In both\nthese cases, the drivers\u2019 minds were not on the road or driving process.  Something in their minds made their attention\ngo somewhere else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cognitive\ndistractions are some of the most dangerous in my mind for this industry.  You have cell phones, laptops, camera\nsystems, driver fatigue, traffic & night driving and the stress, anxiety\nand for some adrenaline rush of nabbing that car \u2013 all of this plays with and\nweighs on your mind.  Not to mention just\nthe regular stress of your daily lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only\nyou can judge if you should be behind the wheel \u2013 if you\u2019re in a good head\nspace and can devote the level of attention required to operate in a safe\nmanner and avoid risk. A good driver isn\u2019t only necessarily the one who has\nnever been in an accident; but is one who avoids putting themselves into the\nsituation to be in or cause an accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April\nis Distract Driving Awareness month, we want to drive home the point that it is\ncrucial that you have company training and policies that discuss distracted\ndriving and have enforceable consequences if\/when it occurs.  (Just as import as having the policy is your\nwillingness as an employer to enforce those policies \u2013 even when it is against\nyour BEST driver that you think you can\u2019t do without.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For\nmore information on distracted driving, visit our website www.rsig.com<\/a>, find us on Facebook www.facebook.com\/RSIGInsurance<\/a> or register to attend REPO19 at www.repo19.com<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are 3 main types of distracted driving: Visual, Manual & Cognitive. Recovery Specialist Insurance…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-17900","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/curepossession.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/curepossession.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/curepossession.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curepossession.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curepossession.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17900"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/curepossession.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17906,"href":"https:\/\/curepossession.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17900\/revisions\/17906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/curepossession.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}