Christine Yager is an Associate Transportation Researcher for the Human Factors Program within the Texas A&M Transportation Institute's Center for Transportation Safety.

When I reached out to Christine to be a contributing expert for Spinal Trap, she jumped in with impressive enthusiasm to help others.  Here is her outstanding, fact based article about driving distracted:

Driver distraction is a hot button issue right now because it has the potential to impact anyone. We live in a high tech society that has a compulsion to feel constantly connected to the world.

Through advancing technologies and social media, it’s possible to stay connected literally anywhere and everywhere you go.

But when it comes to injury prevention, perhaps the question you should ask yourself is SHOULD you stay connected everywhere you go.

In the driving context, driver distraction is a big concern today. Former Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, said that distracted driving is an epidemic. In January 2013, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety released survey results showing that nearly 35% of drivers admitted to reading a text or email while driving in the past month, and over 26% admitted typing one.

Furthermore, in 2012, the average number of text messages sent in the U.S. per day was 6.1 billion (Source: Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association).

But texting is not the only concern; researchers at Monash University reported that drivers who use a hand-held cell phone are four times as likely to get into a crash serious enough to injure themselves.

Research conducted by the University of Utah has concluded that talking on a cell phone (whether hand-held or hands-free) was as impairing as having a blood alcohol concentration level of 0.08.

They have explained that talking on a cell phone causes a driver to concentrate heavily from a mental point of view, which takes some brain capacity away from other things to focus on, such as driving.

Several research studies have reported that talking on a cell phone cause a driver to scan the roadway less often, resulting in a tunnel vision and a “look but do not see” phenomenon.

Researchers say that cell phone conversations differ from conversations with other passengers because passengers are physically present in the driving environment and naturally pause and respond to events taking place with traffic, whereas the person on the other end of the cell phone conversation has no idea of the surroundings you’re in.

Driver distraction literally means “a diversion of attention away from activities critical for safe driving toward a competing activity” (Regan, Lee, and Young, 2009).

A person can become distracted when either their mental, visual, or physical capacities are overloaded. Driving is already a complex task that requires a lot of attention, even in seemingly routine situations.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon reported that driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37%.

Now we’re seeing built-in systems in new model vehicles that can sync up with your cell phone or even access different apps on its own through a subscription service.

All of these technologies that keep you connected have the potential to distract a driver if they overload their mental, visual, or physical capacities.

The bottom line is that everyone has a personal choice to make about how often and under what circumstances they will connect with the world through technology.

That choice can turn out just fine, or it could be disastrous; no one can predict what will happen in each case - it’s a gamble either way.  What will you choose?

Website: http://tti.tamu.edu/group/cts/

Please also read this bonus link by TheZebra.com "Distracted Driving Statistics":

https://www.thezebra.com/resources/research/distracted-driving-statistics/

Additionally helpful is the fact that Christine is proactive about educating and motivating herself and others on the topic of nutrition.  Specifically, a whole foods, plant based diet, (WFPB) with which she has enjoyed dramatic health improvements!

Here is just some of what she has to share on this subject:

A WFPB diet has been shown to:

-reverse heart disease and type II diabetes

-result in steady, healthy, and long-term weight-loss without going into ketosis (low-carb diet such as Paleo or Atkins) (in other words, you lose all the excess weight at a steady rate until you’re optimal weight is achieved and then you easily maintain that weight for years and years without the typical yo-yo effect of other diets)

-alleviate or even reverse symptoms from rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and chronic back, knee, and other pains

-significantly reduce the chances of getting the common cancers (breast, prostate, colon, etc.)

A couple of her preferred resources are:

Dr. John McDougall, a board-certified internist:

https://www.drmcdougall.com/index.php

Forks Over Knives (also a documentary movie available on Netflix)

http://www.forksoverknives.com/

For more information, please visit Christine via her website: http://www.tofuandmanna.com/