HONOLULU (KHON2) — Following two deadly crashes yesterday, Oahu’s traffic fatality death toll has risen to 60, surpassing the total amount from 2024.
Multiple of these accidents involved violations of basic driving laws, including speeding, impairment, red light violations, and overall distractions.
“What many people don’t know is that they’re constantly being conditioned by their phones,” said Dr. Jonas Vibell, psychology professor at UH Manoa College of Social Sciences, “There will be a little sound that bings and a little red flag going up when you get a new message, and every time that happens you train yourself that these things are important and it becomes important to your attentional system.”
The more technology advances, the more safety improvements and features are added. However, it also comes with a lot more distractions.
“When I first started teaching 17 years ago, our textbook didn’t even have distracted driving in it,” said driver’s ed teacher Steven Wong, “That’s one of the most important things that we teach now, is distracted driving.”
Most cars now come with screen displays that will show you some or all notifications. While it can be useful to avoid picking up your phone, it can still cause a distraction. Cars also have improved and stronger speakers that can allow for music blasting at extreme levels.
“Over time, we become more and more attuned to these things,” said Dr. Vibell on different driving distractions, “So if we can kind of bring them back in terms of their value, that would be healthy for us.”
Dr. Vibell has also studied distractions on drivers beyond just cell phones and has found that drivers can be significantly more distracted than they might even realize.
“This mismatch in where you’re looking and where your brain’s attention is directed, it creates a gap which makes us more accident prone,” said Dr. Vibell on conversations while driving. “We’ve done studies on this when they sit in driving simulators and we present different distractions from different locations rather than where they should be focusing straight ahead on the driving.”
Overall, there are a few extra steps that can be taken to ensure that you’re driving in the right headspace and to avoid further accidents.
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“Safety is always first. If you’re already late, you’re just going to have to deal with it, just remember next time… leave earlier!” said Wong. “Everyone’s just got to be a little more patient. Be safe. Drive with more Aloha.”