The Cognitive Brain
Cognitive skills are used to safely operate a motor vehicle because they are directly related to a driver’s ability to make informed decisions. Our brains use cognitive skills to think, learn, read, remember, reason and focus. Effectively processing new information and retaining previous knowledge allows one to plan ahead and foresee potential problems before they happen. Cognitive ability can become impaired, either temporarily or permanently. A cognitive impairment means that one or several skills which are important for driving are weakened or compromised in some way. A weakening of cognitive skills can be caused by many things including age, inexperience, substance abuse, or the unfortunate result of a traumatic injury to the brain. A driver’s inability to accurately estimate distances, speeds and or time perception can be a result. Furthermore, impairments in cognitive ability can have a negative impact on
The CDC estimates that somewhere around 16 million people in the United States are living with a cognitive disabilities. Cognitive disabilities can be shared genetically at birth. Medical experts claim that attention skills are considered a foundation “building block” of higher level thinking skills such as reasoning and memory. If this is the case, then people with attention or concentration problems may also show signs of other cognitive problems as well. On the other hand, cognitive issues can be acquired at any point in a person’s lifetime, and from a variety of ways.
Here are some other examples of how the cognitive skill set can be impacted over a lifetime:
Cognitive Function & Distracted Driving
As a population, there is already an issue with distracted driving. Although all cognitive skills are necessary to safely operate a motor vehicle, drivers often attempt to drive while distracted. While the cognitive brain is distracted by phones, radios, passengers, or any other distraction, it takes that part of the mind off of driving. It is literally impossible to perform multiple tasks perfectly, all at once. For those who are challenged with cognitive disability for any reason, it’s going to be even more important to remove distractions and place full attention on the task of driving. Action Law Offices educating Wisconsin about risks associated with distracted driving.
Injured? Take Action! During your free initial case evaluation, our Personal Injury Attorneys will listen to details about your experience, and make recommendations regarding what action to take next.
DISCLAIMER: Blogs and articles cover very basic accident and injury topics for education and awareness such as statistics, Wisconsin Laws, injury areas, compensation and injury victim rights. Information not intended for legal advice; consult with an attorney directly.