Multitasking on the road isn’t a good thing

One of the defining characteristics of modern life is that we are rarely doing just one thing.

We watch television while doomscrolling through our phones. We attend meetings while answering e-mails. We listen to podcasts while exercising, messaging friends and checking social media.

We have become so accustomed to divided attention that we increasingly design products, services and experiences around the assumption that people are only partially engaged.

The irony is that while we often speak proudly about multitasking, decades of cognitive research suggest that human beings are remarkably poor at it. What we call multitasking is generally task-switching. The brain rapidly alternates between activities, creating the illusion of simultaneous performance while reducing performance across all tasks.

The result is a distracted society, and one that is gradually losing its ability to direct and sustain attention. Most of the time, the consequences are relatively minor. But on the roads, this is increasingly a matter of life and death.

Distracted driving

The average motorist operates a machine weighing well over a tonne, often travelling at speeds capable of causing catastrophic injury or death.

He shares roads with thousands of others – including unpredictable pedestrians – while making hundreds of micro-decisions, navigating changing conditions and constantly evolving risks. Yet many are simultaneously conversing on the phone, managing notifications, and using entertainment and navigation systems. 

In the case of most private-hire vehicles and taxi drivers on our roads, this also involves multiple screens – their own for communication and social life, and the one that has the booking app and navigation. And it is not just phones that cause cognitive distraction. Drivers can be mentally preoccupied, even when engaged in conversations or following navigation instructions. It’s not just about where our eyes are directed, but where attention is.

Recent road safety data from Singapore and around the world increasingly points towards distraction and inattention as major contributors to accidents. The Traffic Police Annual Road Traffic Situation report released earlier in 2026 reported a 10-year high of 149 fatalities in 2025, while injury accidents rose by more than 7 per cent. Most tellingly, the Traffic Police identified “failure to keep a proper lookout” as the primary cause in 52 per cent of all accidents. In other words, some or all of the parties involved were not paying sufficient attention to what was happening around them.

Almost every week, we hear about multi-vehicle collisions on one of our expressways. Such chain collisions do not occur just because of a single driver’s mistake. They occur because speed, inadequate spacing and delayed reactions combine in a cascading failure of attention.

A vehicle travelling at 90kmh covers about 25m every second. Looking away for only two seconds means travelling the length of a swimming pool without fully observing what is happening around you. During those same two seconds, traffic conditions may change – a pedestrian, possibly on his mobile device, may enter a crossing, a motorcyclist may move into a blind spot, or the vehicle ahead may brake unexpectedly. 

Safety researchers have long recognised a phenomenon known as inattentional blindness. People sometimes fail to see objects that are directly visible because their attention is focused elsewhere. The eyes work perfectly. The brain simply fails to process what is there. 

This is why so many accidents involve the phrase “I never saw them” when, more often than not, they were visible. The driver was simply not paying attention.

The consequences extend far beyond motorists themselves. Passengers place their trust in whoever occupies the driver’s seat, pedestrians assume approaching drivers are alert, and motorcyclists depend on being noticed.

Every road user is relying upon thousands of strangers making responsible decisions and maintaining sufficient attention to avoid harming one another.

Road safety therefore is not simply an issue of enforcement, engineering or infrastructure. It is also critically an issue of how we process information, assess risk and direct our attention. Whether we are behind the wheel, crossing the road or cycling through traffic, our safety often depends on what we deliberately choose to notice, a task made increasingly difficult by the constant competition for our attention.

The recent Straits Times report on jaywalkers provides an uncomfortable example of this broader problem. In 2025, Singapore recorded 15 fatal cases involving elderly pedestrians who were jaywalking, more than double the number recorded the previous year.

What struck me most was not the age of those involved, but the familiarity of the reasoning that it was quicker, easier or more convenient. Several of those interviewed openly acknowledged that they crossed roads illegally because it was faster, more convenient or because they believed they could accurately judge the speed and distance of approaching vehicles.

Implicit in that judgment is another assumption, that the approaching driver has seen them, is paying adequate attention, and will behave predictably. That is a dangerous assumption to make, and sometimes, the world rudely reminds us of this.

Recognise driving for the danger that it is

For motorists, the solution begins with recognising that driving is a safety-critical activity.

The term originates from industries such as aviation, defence and healthcare, where a momentary lapse in attention can have catastrophic consequences.

Pilots, surgeons and air traffic controllers are trained to approach their work with this reality constantly in mind. Yet, many of us think nothing of checking a message, adjusting a playlist or becoming distracted by a conversation while operating a vehicle travelling at highway speeds.

The truth is that driving deserves far more respect than we routinely give it. Destination information should be set before moving off and phones should be out of reach but visible in the line of sight for navigation, notifications can wait, and conversations that become distracting should stop. 

The governing principle must be that when a task carries a risk to human life, all attention should be reserved for the task itself.

It is a relief to see that even vehicle manufacturers are beginning to recognise the problem, with some brands reintroducing physical controls after studies showed touchscreen-heavy interfaces can increase driver distraction.

The green man is not a force field

For pedestrians, the assumption that drivers have seen or will see you is becoming increasingly dangerous. Looking up from screens and maintaining situational awareness remains one of the simplest safety behaviours available.

Crossing only at designated crossings, obeying pedestrian signals and resisting the temptation to trade safety for convenience are not merely legal obligations, they are also acts of risk management. 

It is also critical to remember that the green man signal is not a force field. It grants right of way, but it does not guarantee that every approaching driver is attentive. Equally, an empty stretch of road is not necessarily safe simply because it appears so. Distraction dulls our judgment, narrows our awareness, and encourages us to make optimistic assumptions about outcomes. 

For the community at large, the authorities, the educators and regulators, the challenge is broader. We need to teach focus and attention itself. Driver education in the cluttered world should focus not only on the act of driving and the rules but also on cognitive distraction, situational awareness, and the limitations of human attention.

Perhaps it needs an online test module between the basic theory test and the final theory test that tests for the ability to focus on a primary task while other distractions are vying for attention. Public communication campaigns should focus more on behaviour change using motivations and consequences. 

As life expectancy increases, it may also be prudent to supplement the current medical assessment process with periodic cognitive and practical driving evaluations. Several countries already incorporate cognitive testing as part of licence renewal for older drivers.

Ultimately, this is not just about road safety. It is about what happens when an entire society becomes so accustomed to divided attention and begins to prioritise convenience over concentration and safety. 

It does not really matter whether we were checking a message, glancing at a map on the screen or simply lost in thought. It only matters that we were not paying attention.