Eliminating the Dangers of Driving

Eight seconds; this is the average attention span of an average human, according to a study done by Microsoft. These measly eight seconds of attention put onto the road – when compared to the average person’s daily driving time – show how little a driver is focused on the road in front of them, and represent the vast scheme of distractions that may put a driver in danger. Rather than focus on the obvious distractions such as texting and driving – which is widely accepted to be dangerous, I will be focusing on the dangerous human tendency to quickly lose focus on the task at hand. In order to put these eight seconds into perspective, the average person blinks approximately every eight seconds. That means that by the time you blink for the first time, you have likely already lost focus. This is not to say that this focus and undivided attention will not be regained, as it likely will be – and quickly, however, these moments in which human attention is lost at the wheel can be very dangerous. Also, these short moments are when dangerous habits may surface; using your phone, turning up the volume a little too much to maintain a safe awareness of what is around you, getting a little too involved in a conversation with the passenger. Distracted driving encompasses a vast spectrum of distractions, and although difficult to remove all of them, removing some can make driving much safer. I have developed a prototype of a product that, in my opinion, would remove the distraction of having a cellphone in the car altogether. My project – a small block that would be placed on the driver side vent, would possess a bluetooth low energy transmitter that would force open an app on the users iPhone – and keep that app open until the phone has exited the range of the block. This app would be designed to possess only the necessities, while eliminating all potential distractions; only music, maps, and phone calls would be allowed, along with voice control. This bluetooth module would have a very small working radius, and would only affect the drivers phone while on the drivers side, allowing passengers to use their phones with no restrictions, even allowing them to use the drivers phone if need be. I hope that through the creation of this product, and by following the steps outlined above, I would eliminate the many distractions that are so dangerous to those on, and around the road.