texting and driving: protecting yourself from distracted driving
DESCRIPTION
http://www.ntsi.com/ | In the age of cell phones, texting, and social media, distracted driving is now, more than ever, impacting drivers of all ages. And it isn’t just teen drivers who are using their phones while on the road; they are learning from older drivers who have taken to using their phones in the car. Protect yourself and your loved ones from distracted driving by attending online traffic school.TRANSCRIPT
Protecting Yourself from Distracted Driving
It happens more often than a think. A driver busy texting or talking on his phone suddenly looks
up, sees traffic stopped or a car merging into his lane, and swerves unexpectedly. Every day
more than 9 people are killed and over 1,060 people injured due to crashes involving a distracted
driver, according to the CDC. The National Traffic Safety Institute is working to protect you and
your loved ones from distracted drivers by helping teach you how to anticipate and avoid danger
from these irresponsible individuals.
Oddly, many people assume they can drive and text or chat on their smartphone or even surf the
internet while driving. We have become so comfortable with multi-tasking that we forget the
value of focusing on one task, especially when driving. But if someone tells you they’re capable
of driving and using their phone, be wary. Consider these common excuses for distracted
driving:
“It’s not that big a problem.”
In 2011, 1.3 million car crashes in the United States involved someone on a cell phone. Almost
one in four accidents had a cell phone as a contributing factor to the accident. Anyone who tells
you distracted driving is not a problem is misinformed.
“It will only take a second.”
The minimum amount of time it takes to send a text is five seconds. When a person is driving at
55 mph, this means they will travel the entire length of a football field while not looking at the
road. Meanwhile, a driver is 23 times more likely to be involved in an accident merely by
answering the phone, talking on the phone or dialing a number.
“I have to call/text/talk right now!”
Young drivers are the most likely to call or text while driving, often using the excuse that they
cannot wait to make the call. In fact, one-third of young drivers say they have texted while
driving and more than half say they talk on the phone while driving. In research studies, 55% of
teen drivers say it is “easy” to text while driving. Those same studies show teens spend more
than 10% of their driving time outside their own lane when texting and driving.
“It’s only a problem for teen drivers.”
The reality is that the reason many young drivers think they can text or call while driving is
because they have seen their parents and other adults doing it. More than one quarter of adults
have sent or received text messages while driving and almost half of young drivers report seeing
their parents talk on the phone while driving.
“I can do it safely by…”
Some people seem to think there are safe ways to text and drive. They hold the phone close to
the windshield, presuming they can see past the phone to the road around them. They say they
only text at stop lights or stop signs, or that they just read their messages because sending them is
the dangerous part. The reality is that any type of texting or talking on the phone while driving
can have disastrous consequences.
Bio: The National Traffic Safety Institute is committed to helping drivers learn to be safer in
their vehicles. We offer research proven defensive driving classes and use behavior modification
to teach people to be safer while driving.
Summary: Distracted driving – whether texting, talking on the phone, eating, or talking with
other people in the car – is considered as dangerous an act as drinking and driving. It results in a
large number of fatalities every year.