Distracted Driving

With virtually every American owning a cellphone, Distracted Driving has become a threat on the nation’s roads. Everyone thinks they can use their cell phone and drive at the same time. But they can't.  Studies say that drivers using cellphones are four times as likely to cause a crash as other drivers.  Distracted Driving caused 5,500 deaths nationwide in 2009, according to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.  There are three main types of driving distractions: (1) Visual - taking your eyes off the road; (2) Manual - taking your hands off the wheel; (3) Cognitive - taking your mind off what you're doing.  There are many other forms of Distracted Driving: People love to eat in their cars. They can't resist fiddling with the CD player or the radio, chatting with passengers, patting their pets, shaving, or turning around to get after the kids in the back seat while hurtling down the interstate.  Research shows that longer commutes are tempting time- starved Americans to invent ways to spread more tasks over the hours they must spend in their vehicles. Then throw in the fact many drivers apparently don't care that they might be annoying, or even alarming other drivers by applying mascara, drinking hot coffee, reading a novel, or selecting station WMBM, all at the same time.  More than 80% of drivers surveyed identified themselves as multitaskers. Sixty-eight percent eat while driving; 19% are texting or instant messaging, or fixing hair while driving; 14% comfort or discipline their children while behind the wheel; and 8% drive with a pet in their laps. And statistics show that accidents are more likely to occur when there are other passengers in the car with a Distracted Driver. The kids are actually showing off with their friends. while they're drinking, partying, talking on cell phones and texting, etc.  Consequently, they find themselves speeding and weaving in and out of traffic, and as a result, they're just not paying attention, but endangering the lives of themselves and everyone around them. They really feel that they're invincible at the time. The Responsibility Project for the Teen Driving Survey, stated that about a third of teens responded that they are often passengers in a car where another teen driver is text messaging, changing songs on an iPod, speeding or driving with more than three teen passengers in the car. For the most part, teens responded that they rarely, if ever, drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The majority, 84%, reported that they would ask a driver to refrain from driving after drinking alcohol; about three quarters would ask friends who had used marijuana or prescription drugs, not to drive. And in turn, nine out of ten teen drivers said they would likely refrain from most of these behaviors if they were asked to stop by a passenger. The survey also revealed that teens aren't quite as outspoken about things they don't consider as distracting as alcohol and drug use. Only about half of teens said they speak up and ask a driver to stop racing other cars, texting or using a cell phone to access the internet while driving; only 18% of teens are likely to ask a driver to stop talking on a cell phone. About a third of the students regarded activities like updating their Facebook page or texting while driving to be distracting. Not surprisingly, girls are more likely than their male counterparts to ask a driver to stop engaging in behavior that could distract them. We ALL should ask ourselves this question; Are we willing to risk killing someone or ourselves because of Distracted Driving?  But sadly, car crashes are the number one killer of teens in the United States, which tragically, instantaneously changes countless lives forever. We ALL should ALWAYS remember that every time we get behind the wheels of our cars, millions of LIVES depend on us ALL being extremely careful. So please DRIVE SAFELY.