Feeling stressed, angry, frustrated, moody or tired can significantly affect your capacity to focus on driving, and your ability to drive safely.
- Scientific research identifies significant links between mood, dangerous driving and reduced cognitive capabilities.
- 94% of Queensland drivers agree moods affect their driving including their concentration level, speed and attention to road rules.
- Getting behind the wheel in an emotional state raises the risk of a crash by nearly 10x*
- Emotional interference is also far more likely to cause a crash than fatigue or mobile phones.*
* The National Road Safety Partnership Program with research from Monash University
Effect of state of mind and mood on driving
Worry and stress negatively affect our ability to drive because thinking about these things uses the same working memory needed to focus our attention to drive.
We only have a finite ability to concentrate on things – to pay attention. When our attention is split between ruminating on issues and driving, our full attention is not on driving.
Ruminative thinking styles (dwelling, worrying) or emotionally charged thoughts have been shown to have a negative impact toward driving skill and the ability to regulate attention on the road.
Feeling tired, stressed, frustrated or angry during a drive?
Each of these states of mind has an impact on driver behaviour including: loss of concentration, slow reaction times and poor decision making.
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Positive moods lead to good decision making and a focus on surroundings. |
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Negative moods lead to aggressive behaviours, loss of concentration/distraction/auto-pilot driving and mistakes, risk taking (such as speeding) and poor reaction times/not being alert. |
Mood can influence a driver’s ability to regulate their emotions and deal with unplanned events during the journey.
There are real dangers of losing focus while driving.
Research shows that severe consequences include alarming near-misses, crashes, substantial fines, severe injury, and even loss of life*.
There is an increased chance of crashing when your mind is dealing with stress, frustration, fatigue or distraction.
Driving when angry
Research^ has shown angry drivers take more risks when driving such as:
- Moving into shorter gaps in traffic when performing left-turns
- braking later and harder when merging
- scanning a narrower area which may increase the chance of missing potential hazards in peripheral areas.
Causes of lack of focus, stress and distraction when driving
Queensland drivers have confessed in research# the situations most likely to cause a lapse in focus or a mistake while driving are:
- Running late
- Not being familiar with the area/roads
- Driving tired or fatigued
- Feeling angry or upset
- Being impatient to be somewhere
- Feeling stressed
- Feeling frustrated with other drivers
- Daydreaming/not paying attention
- Feeling frustrated with traffic and congestion.