WHAT DISTRACTS YOU?

While I have not been officially diagnosed with Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (also referred to as Adult ADHD), I do get distracted very easily.  I took an ADHD quiz on PsychCentral.com while doing research for this posting and I scored 93.  The report said, “It is highly likely that you are presently suffering from adult attention deficit disorder.”  But then I got distracted by all the other psychological tests and quizzes on the site and did not care anymore about the ADHD quiz. 

It actually took me three days to write this blog because “other stuff” kept coming up.  A British actress played me in this reenactment of how my days seem to flow.  Take a break and watch it.

Distracted driving became a big problem when cell phone use in cars became as common as listening to the radio.  Last November I wrote  about how “United States Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is on a rampage to ban all cell phone use while driving. If that is not enough, he even wants passengers to be prevented from making a call. He is lobbying for devices to be installed in cars that will disable cell phone usage. LaHood has called distracted driving an “epidemic” and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that about 5,000 people a year die as a result of it.”

A recent Chicago Tribune article pointed out that, “Research suggests that distracted drivers are involved in 80 percent of collisions or near-crashes, and governments big and small increasingly are addressing the concern by restricting cell phone use and other negligent conduct behind the wheel.”

Oak Park, IL is looking to take the ban on talking and texting while driving to another level, as they discuss a potential village ordinance to ban eating while driving.

The Tribune story quoted Oak Park village trustee Colette Lueck, who wants to ban drinking, eating or applying makeup while operating a motor vehicle. "To me, this is an issue of public safety," she said. "This isn't government overreach; this is the government protecting people. Distracted driving puts everyone on the road in danger."

Trustee Ray Johnson supports a texting ban, but he is worried about issuing tickets for other types of distractions. "If you take it to the extreme, you could say having kids in the car is a distraction," he said. "But what are you going to do? Some people have to have kids in the car."

Years ago, car cell phones used to be mounted on the dashboard of one’s car.  I had two phones in my car because I did a lot of driving and needed to both make and receive calls.  One day, Thom Karmik, then-producer for news anchor Walter Jacobson, came with me on a visit to Hollywood Casino in Aurora, IL, a 45 mile drive from downtown Chicago.   I had both phones going, I was smoking, drinking a Diet Coke and the car was a stick shift model.  Thom still tells the story 15 years later.  It was one of the most terrifying rides in his life.

Now that is distracted driving!