Study On The Mental Demands Of Blue-Light Driving

The Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation has welcomed a new project analysing the mental demands of driving under blue lights, but emphasised that its findings must be acted upon.

The 18-month initiative, run by Devon and Cornwall Police and the Open University, aims to understand how “cognitive workload” – the amount of mental effort required to perform a task – affects drivers in an emergency.

Things such as conversations and equipment, including radios and computers, all battle for the attention of drivers, said researchers. The project is funded by the Road Safety Trust and aims to create a training manual resource for about 80,000 blue light response drivers in the UK.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: “This is badly needed. I’ve just done my driving refresher myself and it is difficult and challenging, because you are competing with so many different things. You’re competing with trying to drive in a way that suits the needs of what you’re doing, but also you’re concentrating on what’s going on, and you might be given commentary.

“No officer sets out to injure somebody when they’re driving, but there’s still not enough protection in law, and there are still people waiting to dissect it with a fine-tooth comb if an officer makes a mistake.

“So I welcome this, but on the proviso that someone’s going to sit up and pay attention to what it says and do something about it.”