Distractions, attention and the M5

On Friday here in the UK there was one of the worst motorway crashes we have experienced.

It was on the M5 in Somerset. As it happened a friend of ours passed the very spot of the accident just one hour before.

She told us of a large bonfire and fireworks very close to the motorway. She told us that she saw lorries swerving and that she and the others in the car were all distracted by it.

Attention

There are several facets of the skill of attention. They include the ability to:

• Give your attention to one part of the environment
• Sustain your attention
• Release your attention so you can move it to something else

You can have problems in any one of these areas.

Key skills

You need to be able to choose what we pay attention to. When you are easily distracted this means you have a problem in this area.

However, your visual system is tuned to spot things that might pose a danger to you. In particular, to spot movement and difference.

So, for example, if there is one white stone amongst 300 grey stones, you will spot that white stone.

If you are watching TV and, on the other side of the room, there is a sudden movement, your eyes will be drawn to it. Or if there
This is an instinctive reaction and it’s very hard to stop yourself responding in this way.

Once you have moved your attention, you then need to decide what to do next. If the movement is nothing to worry about (for example, curtains fluttering in the breeze) the chances are you will resume your enjoyment of your TV programme.

If an animal is springing at you from the gloom or a fire has started, you will probably decide that the new threat is more worthy of your attention than the TV.

The important thing is to be able to make those decisions.

Problems with attention

Either being unable to move your attention when you need to, or being unable to keep it on the matter in hand is a problem.

Bored?

Boredom is an emotion that tells your body that there is nothing to be gained from paying attention to a specific topic. Unfortunately, when you are trying to work on an important task, this can be very counter-productive.

On the other hand, when you are driving and your attention is caught by fireworks, this can make driving safely momentarily much more difficult. If you are startled by something, you tend to raise your hands in the air.

However, you raise your dominant hand less (because you have better control of it). This is an entirely voluntary response; you can’t stop yourself.

What it means is that if you are a right-handed driver, and you are startled, you are likely to swerve to the right. If you are left-handed, you will swerve to the left.

On a normal duel carriageway this is bad enough, but on a motorway, it’s very dangerous to have three lanes of traffic swerving.

I don’t know if this was the cause of, or contributed to the dreadful accident on Friday, but it’s easy to imagine that having fireworks apparently so close to the motorway would not help. Driving does need concentration and focus of attention.

We know this because even talking on a hands-free phone while you are driving increases the risk of accident.

Your brain

Your brain only has so much room for conscious processing. To test this out just try remembering a new phone number at the same time as doing your next task. Unless you have an effective memory technique (which takes it out of your working memory) you’ll find it hard to perform to your usual standard.

Being able to concentrate on your tasks is a key aspect of time management.

There’s a whole section on how to concentrate more effectively in my booklet “Time Management Made Easy” on page 11. You will find seven tips there on now to maintain attention.

For more help go here.