The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, or NHTSA for short, released an astounding statistic regarding distracted driving. They revealed that 3,142 people died in accidents involving distracted driving throughout the year 2019. This has made it clear that drivers in Illinois and throughout the country need to take a stand to prevent more traffic deaths due to distracted driving.
What is distracted driving?
Distracted driving is a broad term used to describe any activity that takes a driver’s attention off the roadway. Some common examples of distracted driving include eating, drinking, texting, talking on the phone, changing the radio station or even playing with the navigation system. Any activity that takes your eyes away from the road can be classified as distracted driving and can result in a car accident.
While it may not seem like a big deal to take your eyes off the road for a few seconds, it really is. If you’re traveling at 55 MPH and you take your eyes off the road for five seconds, your car would travel the length of an entire football field. The reality is that it takes about five seconds to read a text message.
It’s time to drive safer
You need to realize that you’re setting the standard for your children and other people that ride with you. When you take your eyes off of the wheel to talk on the phone or fiddle with the radio, your children subconsciously accept these actions as common. Don’t be surprised to find out that they end up doing the same distracting activities as you when they get behind the wheel. It’s time to set the standard and drive with more intentional focus.
With the rising death toll of people due to distracted drivers, it’s time to say that enough is enough. Distracted driving is completely avoidable. It simply comes down to deciding to focus your efforts on driving instead of doing other unnecessary activities.