Distracted driving — Missouri Permit Test

Events or things that prevent you from operating your car safely are distractions, and all of them endanger driver, passenger, and bystander safety.

The definition is about the effect, not the object. Anything that takes the car out of your control qualifies.

Events or things that prevent you from operating your car safely are distractions.

Text messaging is by far the highest risk distraction, because it requires visual, manual, and cognitive attention from the driver.

It takes your eyes, your hands and your mind at once. Nothing else on the list takes all three.

Because text messaging requires visual, manual, and cognitive attention from the driver, it is by far the most high risk distraction.

Driving requires constant and complex coordination between your mind and body, and your full attention.

It is the reason a distraction costs so much: the job was already using everything you had.

Driving involves constant and complex coordination between your mind and body.

Grooming, eating and drinking, and adjusting a radio or music player are all listed as distractions.

None of them feels like driving badly, and all of them are on the state's list.

These types of distractions include, but are not limited to: • Texting • Grooming

Children, friends, and pets can all be a dangerous distraction while you are driving.

The three things most likely to be in your car are the three the guide names first.

All can be a dangerous distraction to you while you are driving.

If you need to attend to your children while driving, pull over to a safe place rather than handling them at the wheel.

Stopping costs two minutes. Turning round at speed costs whatever is in front of you.

If you need to attend to your children, pull over to a safe place.

A loose pet in a moving vehicle is dangerous, and should be secured in a pet carrier, portable kennel, or a designed pet harness.

An unrestrained animal becomes a projectile in a crash and a distraction before one.

Properly secure your pet in a pet carrier, portable kennel, or specially designed pet harness when you are driving.

Never allow your pet to sit on your lap while you are driving.

There is nothing between the animal and the steering wheel except your attention.

Never allow your pet to sit on your lap while you are driving your vehicle.

Adjust your vehicle's climate controls, mirrors, radio, and seat before you begin to drive.

Every one of those is easy at a standstill and a hazard at forty.

Adjust vehicle’s controls (climate controls, mirrors, radio, seat, etc.) before you begin to drive.

Take advantage of normal stops to adjust controls, and ask passengers to adjust the radio, climate control, or navigation for you.

A passenger with nothing to do is the cheapest solution to almost every in-car distraction.

Ask your passengers to adjust the radio, climate control, navigation system, etc., for you.

Looking at a crash scene, a billboard, a vehicle pulled over by law enforcement, or a scenic view can all be a distraction.

Every one of them is outside the windshield, which is why drivers do not count them as looking away.

Looking out your window at what you are passing while you are driving can be a distraction if you are concentrating on getting a good look at: • A crash scene

How does the guide define a distraction?

Anything that prevents you operating the car safely. The definition is about the effect, not the object. Anything that takes the car out of your control qualifies. Missouri Driver Guide, p.92: “Events or things that prevent you from operating your car safely are distractions.”