Webinar - What do we know about distracted driving?: motivations, behaviours and consequences

The Institute will be presenting the first in a series of a one hour webinars for the membership on Wednesday 15^th September 2021 in which applied cognitive psychologist, Dr Gemma Briggs – a senior lecturer at the Open University – will discuss research findings on driver distraction.

Gemma has researched this area for many years, and her collaborative research has provided new explanations for both how and why phone use leads to deteriorated driving.

This session will explain how distraction can have measurable effects on certain aspects of driving, many of which will be familiar to collision investigators. This knowledge can be used to help explain driver testimony after a collision, as well as understanding certain driving behaviours prior to a collision.

The session will also discuss the cognitive nature of distraction, demonstrating that having both hands on the wheel and both eyes on the road does not constitute ‘safe’ driving, if the driver is also engaged in a mobile phone conversation.

Gemma will be very happy to answer questions relating to driver distraction in the session and will be providing further sessions in the future too.