April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Distracted driving involves any activity that could divert a person's attention away from the primary task of driving. In today's busy society there are ever increasing demands on our personal and professional time. In order to keep up with the pace of life people are spending more time multi-tasking while driving. Unfortunately, research shows that 97.5% of people can't multi-task.
Studies indicate that the human brain just can't perform two cognitively intense tasks at the same time. The brain switches, or toggles back and forth, between the tasks. As a result the brain loses the ability to process everything the eyes see and only a portion of the information is actually seen. Drivers can miss seeing up to 50% of the driving environment and miss important driving clues critical to safety, such as red lights, stop signs, pedestrians and other vehicles.
Statistics reveal that over 1,000 people are injured or killed every day due to distracted driving. For those who think they can successfully eat a hamburger, read something, manipulate a hand-held mobile phone or do any other distracting activity while driving it's time to realize you can't. No one is immune from the dangers of distracted driving. Safe driving starts with you.
April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Every year more than 3,000 people are killed and over 380,000 people are injured in distracted driving accidents. Distracted driving occurs any time you take your eyes off the road, your hands off the wheel, and your mind off your primary task: driving safely. Any non-driving activity you engage in such as eating, smoking, adjusting music, talking to passengers, and reaching for an item, are potential distractions that increase your risk of having an accident.
Distracted driving can lead directly to extremely hazardous driving behaviors including speeding, following too closely and erratic lane usage. Distractions also reduce a driver's reaction time when responding to a dangerous situation. The likelihood of being involved in an accident increases significantly for drivers engaged in these behaviors.
All drivers should follow these tips to stay alert and focused and to avoid distracted driving:
Please remember, driving is an activity that requires your full attention and focus in order to keep yourself and others safe.