Texting and driving ruins your sixth sense

Did you know that some experts believe drivers have a sixth sense that keeps them safe? It’s that sense that helps them correct little driving errors even without thinking about it.

You can do this when you get distracted. You may start thinking about something else without simply driving off the side of the road. You make that next turn almost unconsciously, but you make it. Have you ever gotten to your destination and realized that you forgot the entire trip? You can’t remember any of it, but that sixth sense kept you on the road.

“The driver’s mind can wander and his or her feelings may boil, but a sixth sense keeps a person safe at least in terms of veering off course,” said the lead author of the study that determined how this works.

Losing your sixth sense

You have probably heard that texting and driving is the “worst” distraction. Anything that takes your mind off of driving can cause an accident. That sixth sense is not perfect. Many people who drive while they’re emotional or while they’re thinking about something else then go on to cause serious accidents. But people who text and drive create the most danger, the most accidents and the most needless deaths.

Why is this? It’s because texting and driving takes such focus that you lose your sixth sense. Your body stops automatically reacting to keep your car on course and to keep you safe.

“What makes texting so dangerous is that it wreaks havoc onto this sixth sense,” that lead author noted.

3 distractions

Part of the goal of that study was to look into three main distractions that people face in the car. These are:

• Cognitive distractions
• Emotional distractions
• Physical distractions

For instance, when your mind wanders, that’s a mental distraction. Picking up a soda bottle you dropped on the ground is a physical distraction. When you get angry at another driver or feel emotional about something that happened at work, that’s an emotional distraction.

Texting and driving can trigger all of these at the same time. Holding your phone with one hand — and possibly typing with the other — is a clear physical distraction. If you start fighting with a significant other or arguing with a friend via text, that’s an emotional distraction. If you have to think about what you’re going to say or what they wrote to you, that’s a cognitive distraction.

Perhaps that’s why texting is so deadly. It’s really three or more distractions all rolled up into one.

Seeking compensation

Have you gotten injured in an accident caused by a texting driver in Louisiana? If so, you must know how to seek financial compensation for your costs.