It is a common phenomenon: You get in your car, start driving to work, your mind starts to wander…and you arrive at your destination, with only a vague sense of what happened in between. Although cases like these may give us pause, deliberate distractions, such as texting while driving, often seem like the bigger threat. But data suggest that mind wandering is a real danger on the road. A nationwide study of car crashes from 2010 and 2011 found that, within fatal accidents, 62% of distracted driving involved being “lost in thought.” And a new study from researchers at North Carolina State University shows that mind wandering is common in drivers, affecting driving behaviors in a number of ways.
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