Why Do Cell Phone Conversations Interfere With Driving? While often being reminded to pay full attention to driving, people regularly engage in a wide variety of multi-tasking activities when they are behind the wheel. Indeed, as the average time spent commuting increases, there is a growing interest in trying to make the time spent on the roadway more productive. Unfortunately, due to the inherent limited capacity of human attention,engaging in these multi-tasking activities often comes at a cost of diverting attention away from the primary task of driving. There are a number of more traditional sources of driver distraction. These old standards” include talking to passengers, eating, drinking, lighting a cigarette, applying makeup, or listening to the radio.