The Richland County Safe Communities Coalition is joining national and local transportation safety advocates in bringing attention to the increasing amount of crashes and resulting injuries and fatalities caused by driver inattention, given that April is National Distracted Driver Awareness Month.
Each day, more than nine people are killed and 1,153 more are injured in crashes that involve a distracted driver.
Distracted driving is any activity that diverts a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving. All distractions endanger driver, passenger, and bystander safety. According to the latest data from NHTSA, nationwide in 2012, more than 3,328 people were killed in crashes involving distracted drivers, and approximately 421,000 people were injured.
As of February 2014, 42 States, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands ban text messaging for all drivers.
Because text messaging requires visual, manual, and cognitive attention from the driver, it is by far the most alarming distraction. According to a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), sending or receiving a text takes a driver’s eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, the equivalent of driving blind at 55-mph for the length of an entire football field.
According to another NHTSA study (the 2011 National Occupant Protection Use Survey on Driver Electronics Use), at any given daylight moment in 2011, an estimated 660,000 drivers were using cell phones or manipulating electronic devices while driving.
According to NHTSA, the age group with the greatest proportion of distracted drivers is under age 20. Of this group, 11 percent of all drivers who died in a crash were reportedly distracted at the time of the crash.
“When you text while driving, you take your eyes off the road, hands off the wheel, and mind off the task of driving. That puts everyone else’s lives in danger, and no one has the right to do that,” said Reed Richmond, Health Educator at the Mansfield/Ontario/Richland County Health Department and a Richland County Safe Communities Coalition spokesperson.
This year, for the first time, there will be a National Texting Enforcement Campaign. From April 10 to April 15, law enforcement personnel nationwide will be using a combination of traditional and innovative strategies to crack down on motorists who text and drive. This effort is a part of the national U Drive. U Text. U Pay. high-visibility enforcement (HVE) campaign that combines periods of intense anti-texting enforcement coupled with advertising and media outreach to let people know about the enforcement and convince them to obey the law. U Drive. U Text. U Pay. enforcement strategies include roving police patrols, spotters on highway overpasses, and stationary police vehicles prominently placed at strategic locations.
But you don’t have to wait for a police officer to get your attention. There are several things you can do to keep yourself and others safe on the road:
Steps for all drivers:
· Always stay focused and alert when driving.
· Take the pledge—commit to distraction-free driving.
· Speak out if the driver in your car is distracted.
· Encourage your friends and family to designate their cars a “no phone” zone when driving.
· Spread the word—get involved in promoting safe driving in your community.
Steps for parents of teen drivers:
· Discuss what it means to be a safe driver with your teen and set ground rules for when they are behind the wheel.
· Make a family pledge and have other members in your family commit to distraction-free driving.
· Set a positive example for your teen by putting your cell phone away every time you drive.