Driving While Distracted
Distracted Driving
The buzz on the news is whether the FEDs pass a law against cellphone and texting use while driving.
As a father and police officer I think it’s a great idea the evidence is proof enough. As a person who uses the time while driving to make calls, I find it annoying.
What do you think? Should it be against the law? Here is some facts below:
Between 4,000 and 8,000 crashes related to “distracted driving”— which includes the use of cell phones— occur daily in the United States; in a year, they contribute to as many as one-half of the 6 million U.S. crashes reported annually.
If you’re going 65 miles per hour, your vehicle is traveling 95 feet per second. Looking away or being distracted even three seconds, is equivalent to traveling the distance or a football field.
A driver who looks away from the road for two or more seconds is almost twice as likely as an attentive driver to be involved in a crash or near-crash, says a study released last month by the Foundation for Traffic Safety and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.
Top 10 Things We Do While Driving
- Adjust-change radio station or CD player: 82%
- Drink beverage: 80%
- Talk on cellphone: 73%
- Eat snack: 68%
- Eat meal: 41%
- Daydream: 31%
- Drive without shoes: 28%
- Experience road rage: 23%
- Listen to books on tape/CD: 21%
- Smoke: 21%
See my post on driving defensively
Source: Survey of 1,200 drivers for Nationwide Mutual Insurance. Margin of error 4.5 percentage points
Stay Safe ~ concord carpenter
Source: USAtoday, ScienceCentral.
