WEBVTT 00:00:00.260 --> 00:00:02.980 You're really hungry and there's a snack in the glove box. 00:00:02.980 --> 00:00:04.560 Take it out and open the bag please. 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:07.460 Whoa! 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:13.179 Lionel: Hi folks, my name is Lionel Johnston here with Bison Transport. 00:00:13.179 --> 00:00:15.130 We have a great topic to talk about today. 00:00:15.130 --> 00:00:20.840 We are going to be looking at distracted driving, really with the goal of debunking the myth 00:00:20.840 --> 00:00:24.470 that you can drive while distracted and still be safe. 00:00:24.470 --> 00:00:29.010 We have a collection of three drivers-three professional drivers here at Bison Transport-that 00:00:29.010 --> 00:00:31.830 we're going to be running through different scenarios. 00:00:31.830 --> 00:00:33.130 First of all, we have Mike. 00:00:33.130 --> 00:00:38.890 He is a professional Driver at Bison, he's been with us since 1997, a great example of 00:00:38.890 --> 00:00:44.450 what a professional Driver is in our industry and has well o ver 2 million safe driving miles. 00:00:44.450 --> 00:00:49.680 We also have one of our trainees from our new driver finishing program, Navdeep, 00:00:49.680 --> 00:00:54.829 and he's actually in his second year, so he's in phase two of that program. 00:00:54.829 --> 00:00:59.960 And also we have Roberto, who is actually an In-cab Instructor, but what's interesting 00:00:59.960 --> 00:01:04.970 with his scenario is he started out as a new Driver many years ago and has now come full 00:01:04.970 --> 00:01:10.050 circle to be an In-cab Instructor to educate more new Drivers like he once was. 00:01:10.050 --> 00:01:14.460 Okay, so just before we jump into the scenarios, I'm going to take a moment to introduce you 00:01:14.460 --> 00:01:16.920 to and speak with Eric Roeder from Driver Development. 00:01:17.320 --> 00:01:20.560 All right, so Eric, this command center here looks pretty interesting. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:25.369 So, tell me, what are we able to see here, you know, from this point of view? 00:01:25.369 --> 00:01:27.230 Eric: Well, it's very interesting. 00:01:27.230 --> 00:01:32.380 We actually have an overhead view, kind of as-the-crow-flies view, and then we've got 00:01:32.380 --> 00:01:34.479 the front view out of the cab of the truck. 00:01:34.479 --> 00:01:37.049 Lionel: So, this is what the Driver is able to see right here, then? 00:01:37.049 --> 00:01:38.049 Eric: Exactly. 00:01:38.049 --> 00:01:40.729 And then we've got the rearview that are essentially their mirrors. 00:01:40.729 --> 00:01:41.729 Lionel: Okay. 00:01:41.729 --> 00:01:45.420 Eric: And on top of that we have a monitor here with a camera in the cab that allows 00:01:45.420 --> 00:01:51.421 us to see, you know, what the Driver's up to, the kind of facial expressions or if they're 00:01:51.421 --> 00:01:55.730 reaching for something we'll be able to see that in that monitor as well. 00:01:55.730 --> 00:01:56.730 Lionel: Okay. 00:01:56.730 --> 00:02:02.220 So, for example, if someone is making a merge and they're signaling but they're not shoulder-checking, 00:02:02.220 --> 00:02:04.130 would we be able to see that with this set-up? 00:02:04.130 --> 00:02:05.130 Eric: Exactly. 00:02:05.130 --> 00:02:08.759 That's exactly the type of thing we would be able to see and that we look for. 00:02:08.759 --> 00:02:14.470 And this particular scenario that we're gonna be running is in fact a highway scenario. 00:02:14.470 --> 00:02:20.340 The Driver is going to merge onto a highway with a fair amount of traffic on the highway 00:02:20.340 --> 00:02:24.010 and there are some stopped vehicles on the side of the road as well. 00:02:24.010 --> 00:02:31.920 The other vehicles in this scenario are random and as such they could do unexpected things 00:02:31.920 --> 00:02:34.080 just like vehicles in real traffic would do. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:38.200 Lionel: So, with the exception of forcing them to take certain...do things like taking 00:02:38.200 --> 00:02:41.900 a phone call, this is a pretty real-life scenario we're going through here. 00:02:41.900 --> 00:02:42.900 Eric: Absolutely. 00:02:42.900 --> 00:02:45.040 It's just like driving in regular highway traffic. 00:02:45.040 --> 00:02:50.440 So, there's really a lot to deal with in this scenario and it'll be interesting to see how 00:02:50.440 --> 00:02:57.880 Drivers deal with this facing multiple distractions: texting, phone call, and reaching for a snack. 00:02:57.880 --> 00:02:59.000 Lionel: Wow. Sounds great. 00:02:59.000 --> 00:02:59.760 Well, how about we get started? 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:02.340 (dramatic music) 00:03:14.120 --> 00:03:14.620 *BING* 00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:18.020 Lionel: If you get a text, please send us a quick response. 00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:21.520 Lionel: Oh, there he goes. 00:03:23.180 --> 00:03:24.180 Lionel: Oh boy! 00:03:24.180 --> 00:03:24.680 Eric: Right. 00:03:33.540 --> 00:03:34.040 *BING* 00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:38.860 Lionel: See as soon as he gets a notification, his eyes go down. Right? 00:03:42.880 --> 00:03:44.800 Lionel: Did...did he respond already? 00:03:52.380 --> 00:03:55.200 Eric: He's so busy trying to text, he missed the police car up ahead. 00:03:55.200 --> 00:03:55.700 Lionel: Yeah. 00:03:55.700 --> 00:03:57.020 And he should be in the left lane here, should he not? 00:03:57.020 --> 00:03:58.240 Eric: Yes. 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:00.540 Well, he should have tried at least, but yeah. 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:03.920 Lionel: Okay, there's a snack for you in the... 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:05.480 glove box. 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:07.780 Lionel: Take it out and open the bag, please. 00:04:11.960 --> 00:04:12.460 Mike: Whoa! 00:04:17.200 --> 00:04:17.940 Lionel: Oh, look at that. 00:04:18.320 --> 00:04:18.820 Oh. 00:04:20.960 --> 00:04:22.400 Drifted almost straight off the road. 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:26.740 Look at that. 00:04:27.200 --> 00:04:27.700 Whoa! 00:04:27.700 --> 00:04:29.580 Immediately...whoa! 00:04:34.260 --> 00:04:36.300 And that happened, that happened so quick. Right? 00:04:36.440 --> 00:04:36.940 Eric: Yeah. 00:04:36.940 --> 00:04:39.820 Lionel: You can see people probably thinking, "Oh, I can just grab this, no problem." 00:04:40.520 --> 00:04:41.820 *RINGTONE* 00:04:41.880 --> 00:04:42.640 Lionel: Answer the phone please. 00:04:46.880 --> 00:04:47.380 Whoa, look at that. 00:04:47.720 --> 00:04:48.220 Eric: Holy... 00:04:56.180 --> 00:04:56.680 Hello? 00:04:59.300 --> 00:04:59.800 Roberto: Hello. 00:05:00.320 --> 00:05:01.560 Eric: Hey Roberto, how's it going? 00:05:01.560 --> 00:05:02.960 Roberto: Not too bad. How about you, man? 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:04.920 Eric: Ah, not bad, not bad. 00:05:04.920 --> 00:05:05.920 Mike: Kay... 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:07.080 Mike: You're going to get me into an accident here. 00:05:07.840 --> 00:05:08.700 Eric: What's going on? 00:05:09.960 --> 00:05:12.160 Mike: I'm in a construction zone and I'm talking on the phone. 00:05:13.200 --> 00:05:15.920 Eric: And it sounds like you might be drive...are you driving? 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:16.560 Roberto: I am. 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:18.640 I'm just on my way to Wisconsin. 00:05:18.640 --> 00:05:20.800 Eric: Oh, jee. Wow. I'm sorry. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:22.320 I didn't mean to distract you. 00:05:22.320 --> 00:05:23.400 Roberto: Oh, that's okay. 00:05:24.340 --> 00:05:26.040 I shouldn't have been answering the phone. 00:05:26.380 --> 00:05:28.860 Navdeep: I will call you back once I'm free. 00:05:29.320 --> 00:05:30.780 Eric: Sorry to bug you while you're driving. 00:05:30.780 --> 00:05:32.060 I hope you don't miss your exit. 00:05:32.060 --> 00:05:32.560 Bye. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:33.460 Mike: I'll try not to. 00:05:33.460 --> 00:05:33.960 Okay. 00:05:34.020 --> 00:05:34.520 Bye. 00:05:36.100 --> 00:05:36.800 Lionel: All right, great job. 00:05:36.820 --> 00:05:39.100 You can just pull over up ahead and we're all done. 00:05:45.460 --> 00:05:46.540 Okay, Roberto, great job. 00:05:46.540 --> 00:05:51.240 I know we threw a lot of different variables at you there, so we texted you a whole bunch 00:05:51.240 --> 00:05:51.980 of times. 00:05:51.980 --> 00:05:53.240 It was like, "Hey, are you there? 00:05:53.240 --> 00:05:53.740 Are you busy? 00:05:53.740 --> 00:05:54.860 Why aren't you responding?" 00:05:54.860 --> 00:05:56.240 That sort of thing, right. 00:05:56.250 --> 00:05:59.979 And then a phone call and then reaching for a snack in the glove box. 00:05:59.979 --> 00:06:05.159 So, all things that are not unreasonable that they could happen to a typical driver, but 00:06:05.159 --> 00:06:07.569 what were your observations going through this scenario? 00:06:07.569 --> 00:06:11.430 Obviously, these aren't things you'd do in the real world, but what was your experience? 00:06:11.430 --> 00:06:13.020 Navdeep: It was very hard. 00:06:13.020 --> 00:06:14.180 Roberto: Doing what I do, right? 00:06:14.180 --> 00:06:19.249 I know that distractions are very dangerous in our line of work so I knew it'd be difficult 00:06:19.249 --> 00:06:21.160 trying to perform this today, but...yeah. 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:22.920 It was quite challenging. 00:06:22.920 --> 00:06:24.280 Mike: It was very hard. 00:06:24.280 --> 00:06:30.080 Very hard and losing a perspective on the road is just...better not to have the distractions. 00:06:30.080 --> 00:06:30.580 Lionel: Yeah. 00:06:30.580 --> 00:06:34.420 Out of the different distractions, between the texts and the phone call and the 00:06:34.500 --> 00:06:38.120 snack, was there one that you found more distracting than the others? 00:06:38.129 --> 00:06:39.800 Roberto: Ah, texting, absolutely. 00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:44.030 Trying to spell things correctly and understand the conversation. 00:06:44.030 --> 00:06:44.520 Right? 00:06:44.520 --> 00:06:47.900 Looking down at the phone and keeping my eyes on the road at the same was next to impossible. 00:06:48.200 --> 00:06:51.240 Mike: As soon as I reached down for the phone I seemed to drift. 00:06:51.880 --> 00:06:56.960 And then when I looked back up, then I was like way off the road and I just...it was 00:06:56.960 --> 00:06:58.740 kind of hard to get back into position. 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:04.760 Navdeep: Couple of times I was out of my way on the left lane or the shoulder. 00:07:04.760 --> 00:07:08.080 That could of caused big collision and big problem. 00:07:08.080 --> 00:07:08.580 Lionel: For sure. 00:07:08.580 --> 00:07:12.830 Yeah, and, you know, there are a couple scenarios where there was a police car and a truck on 00:07:12.830 --> 00:07:16.389 the side of the road and you were actually in the right lane and where normally you would've 00:07:16.389 --> 00:07:18.189 been in the left, but you were distracted. 00:07:18.189 --> 00:07:21.340 Navdeep: Yeah, I didn't have much time...I was texting. 00:07:22.060 --> 00:07:26.039 Mike: With the distractions, it just takes your eyes off the road and you just can't 00:07:26.039 --> 00:07:30.619 focus properly and then if there's an emergency on the road, it's almost impossible to adjust 00:07:30.619 --> 00:07:31.619 in time. 00:07:31.619 --> 00:07:36.800 Lionel: One thing that really surprised me was how quickly you could see the distracted 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:38.060 driving in your driving. 00:07:38.060 --> 00:07:42.300 And with a snack, for example, as soon as you reached, as soon as you looked away from 00:07:42.300 --> 00:07:46.589 the road and went to reach, your truck immediately still went straight, almost straight into 00:07:46.589 --> 00:07:47.460 the ditch. Right? 00:07:47.460 --> 00:07:52.000 Are there other distractions that you've, you know, seen some of your students do that 00:07:52.009 --> 00:07:53.009 maybe we haven't covered today? 00:07:53.009 --> 00:07:56.210 Roberto: Yeah, a lot of the times my students, they try to reach for the radio and try to 00:07:56.210 --> 00:07:58.060 find a station while driving. 00:07:58.060 --> 00:07:59.439 That's a big distraction, I find. 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:03.199 Naldeep: As we know, our speed limit is only 62 miles per hour. 00:08:03.200 --> 00:08:08.280 But, in United States some truckers have more speed limit than us. 00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:14.180 All of a sudden, they started screaming on you, or giving you honks or showing you fingers. 00:08:14.189 --> 00:08:15.699 That could distract you, too. 00:08:15.699 --> 00:08:19.919 Lionel: Yeah, that's one thing that we haven't talked about much in this video, but yeah. 00:08:19.919 --> 00:08:25.330 With someone having road rage or driving aggressively-that is definitely distracting their ability to 00:08:25.330 --> 00:08:26.600 drive safely. 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:27.860 So, yeah. That's a great point. 00:08:27.960 --> 00:08:32.980 What could a driver do to eliminate those types of distractions? 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.440 Mike: Try to take the distractions right out of the picture. 00:08:35.449 --> 00:08:39.599 Roberto: Always remember your job at hand, right, is the road and focus on the road. 00:08:39.599 --> 00:08:40.880 That phone call's not that important. 00:08:40.880 --> 00:08:42.620 You can always pull over and make that phone call. Right? 00:08:42.760 --> 00:08:46.040 It's more important to see the person at the end of the day then to talk to, via text or 00:08:46.040 --> 00:08:47.760 phone call at that time. Right? 00:08:47.880 --> 00:08:50.860 Navdeep: Texting or calling someone can distract you. 00:08:50.870 --> 00:08:57.690 And even it's a semi-truck or a four-wheeler, can cause a big problem as well. 00:08:57.690 --> 00:09:01.670 Lionel: So, really the distractions are the same whether you're driving a big truck or 00:09:01.670 --> 00:09:02.839 a car or a motorcycle. 00:09:02.840 --> 00:09:03.340 Okay. 00:09:03.340 --> 00:09:07.480 Well, thank you very much for the advice and your comments with all your expertise. 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:08.380 Definitely very helpful. 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:10.160 Lionel: Appreciate your time in helping us with this project. 00:09:10.280 --> 00:09:10.960 Naldeep: No problem. 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:11.460 Roberto: My pleasure. 00:09:11.460 --> 00:09:11.960 Lionel: All right. 00:09:11.960 --> 00:09:12.460 Roberto: Thank you very much. 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:15.960 Lionel: So, this video here was shot in a controlled environment. 00:09:15.970 --> 00:09:21.420 But really the purpose of this exercise today was to be able to show how serious the consequences 00:09:21.420 --> 00:09:23.440 can be around distracted driving. 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:27.620 If you really look at a professional Driver, they're driving a tractor and a trailer. 00:09:27.620 --> 00:09:32.000 That's 80,000 pounds approximately going down the highway at highway speeds. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:37.370 We really need to make sure that we are making a commitment to avoid all distractions. 00:09:37.370 --> 00:09:41.190 Some stats that say that anytime you have a distraction, whether it's a text message 00:09:41.190 --> 00:09:45.560 or it's a phone call or you reach for your sunglasses and they drop on the floor...anytime 00:09:45.560 --> 00:09:50.940 a distraction like that happens, you immediately miss out on approximately 50% of the information 00:09:50.940 --> 00:09:53.350 that you need to be able to drive safely. 00:09:53.350 --> 00:09:57.860 So, if you know that you may get text messages on your phone or notifications, or if you 00:09:57.860 --> 00:10:01.579 know that someone may be phoning you, or, you know, it's reasonable that you're going 00:10:01.579 --> 00:10:06.290 to get hungry during a long leg on your trip, make sure that you're planning for those things 00:10:06.290 --> 00:10:07.180 in advance. 00:10:07.180 --> 00:10:11.600 Whatever you need to do, make sure that the distractions are minimized because when we're 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:15.371 in the heat of the moment those distractions happen to us, it's 00:10:15.371 --> 00:10:20.160 a lot harder to avoid them, than if we would've eliminated them all well in advance.