Distracted Driving Causes Accidents!
Cell Phones + Driving = Deadly Combination
In the time it takes you to read this brief note, between 5 and 10 autos will crash because the driver was using a cell phone. Cell phones are the number one cause of distracted driving accidents in the US.
It’s not just the physical act of using your hands to take a call or that’s to blame. It’s also the fact that drivers become distracted when they focus on the phone.
That’s why, increasingly, research shows that even using a hands-free device doesn’t significantly reduce the chances of an accident.
Just because it’s legal to use a hands-free device doesn’t mean it’s safe. And you don’t need more evidence than statistics showing that cell-related accidents are going up, not down.
A common distraction problem is to miss traffic signals. Another is to fail to spot other road hazards, like a cyclist or an overtaking vehicle. One report I read suggests a cell phone can impair a driver’s ability as much as being drunk.
Sorry to have to tell you, there’s only one sure way to avoid this problem and that is to put your cell phone out of reach — either switching it off or putting it in the glove compartment (or even the trunk if you’re otherwise likely to be tempted). As our own Teen Driver, Mart Huff mention in his blog Teen Driver Safety Week back in October, 2013
You might find this tough to do at first. You need to develop the habit.
As it happens, April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month, a campaign organized by the National Safety Council (www.nsc.org), so this would be a great time to take the pledge and drive cell-free and encourage others to do the same.
If you have teenagers in your orbit — through family, work or other connections — it’s even more important to get them to understand the risks they’re taking.
If they won’t listen, tell them about this distracted driving statistic:
The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year.
In fact, at any given time throughout the day, approximately 660,000 drivers are attempting to use their phones while behind the wheel of an automobile according to an NHTSA Survey. That is scary to think about.
It’s a shocking statistic we can do something about.