Multitasking on the road isn’t a good thing
We have normalised divided attention in almost every aspect of life, but the roads remain a place where the cost of distraction is measured in lives.
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The Traffic Police Annual Road Traffic Situation report released earlier in 2026 reported a 10-year high of 149 fatalities in 2025.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Krishnan Menon
- Modern life has normalized multitasking, but cognitive research shows humans are poor multitaskers, leading to divided attention that is especially dangerous on the roads where distraction can result in fatal accidents.
- Recent data from Singapore highlights distraction and inattention as leading causes of traffic accidents, with "failure to keep a proper lookout" identified in 52% of cases; this is exacerbated by the complexity of driving, use of multiple devices, and phenomena like inattentional blindness, which causes drivers to miss visible hazards.
- Improving road safety requires recognizing driving as a safety-critical task demanding full attention, enhancing driver education to address cognitive distractions, promoting pedestrian caution, and possibly incorporating cognitive testing for older drivers, emphasizing societal shifts away from convenience-driven divided attention toward focused awareness.
AI generated
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.
