Merging and Distracted Driving DO NOT MIX!

It can be a high anxiety situation, you’re trying to enter the freeway, cars on the freeway are whizzing by and you’re trying to keep an eye on the cars in front of you. Drivers in the cars behind you are eager for a chance to merge. It can be chaotic and you’re the one at the gate.

A merge is one of the highest risk maneuvers that you do as a driver. As a driver you have to pay attention to things happening in front of you, the things happening behind you, and the things happening two lanes to the left or two lanes to the right. This complicates things because as human beings we can really pay strict attention to only one thing at a time.

This morning during my lovely one hour commute into the office, I had the pleasure of getting very close (too close) to several cars around me during a merge.  The congestion occurred because someone was attempting to multi-task by fighting traffic and talking on the cell phone.  I couldn’t believe it when this person thought it would be a good idea to weasel her way in by driving on the left shoulder to cut off all of the cars that were in the process of merging.  This made a bad driving situation even more dangerous because she wasn’t paying attention to the driving task.

In the office, I am a fan of multi-tasking, but on the road…not so much! 

For information about merging and distracted driving, visit www.DefensiveDriving.com and check out our Safe Driver Resources at https://www.defensivedriving.com/safe-driver-resources/index.asp.

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