CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER 3 JOHN HARRISON
1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations
Aviation Regiment (Airborne)
Clarksville, Tennessee

If you identify as a multitasker who can do three or more things at a time well, please pull over to the side of the road, turn off the radio and put down the coffee. If you are someone who can only do one thing at a time, thank you for your undivided attention.

These days, there are so many stimuli that take our attention away from the task at hand that we have become used to it. These stimuli are no longer seen as distractions, but the norm. Supporting this is a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration survey that found 20 percent of drivers ages 18-20 claim texting does not affect their driving. What’s more, nearly 30 percent of drivers ages 21-34 stated it had no impact on their driving. Does that sound like overconfidence to you?

Let me share a personal story on the matter. I have been in the Army for 14 years. I spent the first five years in infantry and then moved to aviation. Aviation is a thinking man’s game. Not to say infantry isn’t, but in aviation you have to always be thinking about what comes next and how you will adapt to what are potentially five decisions in front of you at once. I am also lucky to have been married for this entire time and now have four children ages 8, 6, 3 and 18 months. (Birth control can be covered in a separate article — not written by me, obviously.)

I often take the helm on family vacations and do 99 percent of the driving. With all that goes aligning leave, time off from the kids’ sports and school and everything else in life. When it’s time for vacation, it’s time; and I don’t want to waste a minute of it!

Even though I am the driver, I also try to take on being the navigator, fuel/pit stop decision-maker and, oh, I need to check the score from last night’s game. I often find myself distracted by my phone as I look for information and communication. When I do, I usually hear, “Need me to do something for you?” in a somewhat sarcastic tone from my wife on the passenger side. My typical response is, “Babe, I’m a helicopter pilot. I can multitask!” I recently sat through a brief, however, that drastically changed the way I think about the ability to multitask while behind the wheel.

The brief discussed aeronautical decision-making and continuing to make intentional bad decisions. That’s right, go back and read that sentence again — intentionally making bad decisions. Why would anyone do that? It’s really quite simple; a subconscious overconfidence in one’s ability that develops over time.

I can illustrate it this way: Picture yourself driving and your phone beeps from receiving a text. You pick up your phone and quickly read it. That process took your attention off of the road for .3 seconds. Not a big deal, right? Imagine you have done that 30 times all at the .3-second interval. Your brain subconsciously affirms your ability to multitask and that it’s not dangerous because nothing happened.

Now imagine you get comfortable with that scenario and the time gets extended to .5 seconds for another 30 iterations. Maybe you use talk-to-text to respond and read the response before you send it. This pattern will continue, as long as you don’t have an accident, until that time reaches 2-3 seconds or greater. Interested to know how far you travel in 3 seconds at 70 mph? The answer is 355 feet!

At this point, all of you alpha types who think you are indestructible are coming up with excuses as to why this doesn’t apply to you. You might say, “I have a phone holder. I have a hands-free device. I use talk-to-text,” and so on and so on. You are proving the point I stated above. You have subconsciously convinced yourself that you can multitask while driving. Reading and responding to a text is a distraction even when you aren’t holding your phone. In fact, a recent study conducted by Texas A&M University found there is actually no safety advantage when using a talk-to-text feature over manual texting in regard to taking your attention off the road.

So what messages are so important that they justify taking your attention off of driving? I imagine not many, yet distracted driving accidents are increasing at a rapid rate. Multiple studies done across the U.S. are showing that drivers distracted by their cellphones are more dangerous than drunk drivers. States are paying very close attention and taking measures to persuade drivers to leave the distractions alone until they arrive where they are going. For example, this past May, the state of Georgia made it illegal to operate a vehicle with a phone in your hand, no matter what configuration you have it in!

Here are a few suggestions I can offer to help with this. If you are driving with a buddy and someone is trying to call or text you, ask that buddy to communicate with person contacting you and explain you are driving. Driving alone and your phone is blowing up? There are apps that work with your GPS and respond to texts, telling that person you are driving and will text them back when you are off the road. If you think the message just can’t wait, find a safe place to pull over briefly so you can respond without putting yourself or those around you in danger. There are so many factors already working against you when you drive, such as road conditions, weather and other drivers. Don’t add to that by convincing yourself you can take your attention off of the road, even for a moment, to pay attention to your phone. No text message, e-mail or traffic update on your GPS is worth putting your life, or the lives of those around you, at risk. Stay safe, my friends.