Stop distracted driving
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Sometimes we know that doing something is wrong, and we do it anyway.
We know we shouldn’t, but “just this one time.”
You can probably think of a lot of instances where this is the case; this column will address one of them: distracted driving. Specifically, texting while driving.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Each day in the United States, more than nine people are killed and more than 1,060 people are injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver. Distracted driving is driving while doing another activity that takes your attention away from driving. Distracted driving can increase the chance of a motor vehicle crash.”
The CDC describes three main types of distraction: 1) Visual: taking your eyes off the road; 2) Manual: taking your hands off the wheel; and 3) Cognitive: taking your mind off of driving.
Distracted driving includes all kinds of things, including eating, looking for something in the car, using a cell phone to make a call, or texting. Texting while driving is especially worrisome because it combines all three types of the distractions listed above.
A CDC study analyzed 2011 data on distracted driving, including talking on a cell phone or reading or sending texts or emails behind the wheel, and found that 69 percent of drivers in the United States ages 18-64 reported that they had talked on their cell phone while driving within the 30 days before they were surveyed, and 31percent of these drivers reported that they had read or sent text messages or email messages while driving at least once within those same 30 days.
So it seems that a majority of us talk on our cell phones (many of us here in Montana travel long distances and use drive time to catch up on phone calls, right?) and a lot of us are reading and/or sending text messages while we drive. But here are the risk factors, again from the research that was done by the CDC:
• Some activities—such as texting—take the driver’s attention away from driving more frequently and for longer periods than other distractions.
• Younger, inexperienced drivers under the age of 20 may be at increased risk; they have the highest proportion of distraction-related fatal crashes.
• Texting while driving is linked with drinking and driving or riding with someone who has been drinking among high school students in the United States, according to a study that analyzed self-report data from the 2011 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
So it seems that the risky behaviors just get compounded. Don’t we have enough to worry about when a teenager gets behind the wheel?
The Internet is exploding with “shock videos” that get the point across in a dramatic fashion. We can only hope that they will help stop this dangerous habit of texting while driving.
And as parents, it is especially important to be a role model who not only buckles up when we get in the car, but also puts our cell phone away. Those kids in the back seat, even the ones in car seats, are seeing and watching everything we do. In the close quarters of a car, our captive audience is learning a lot. Let’s make sure they are learning to keep themselves, and everyone else on the road, safe.
