Do you know that every single day, approximately 1,000 people in the United States are injured and nine are killed because of distracted driving? This means that annually, more than 365,000 people are affected. In fact, in 2019 alone, 3,142 people in America died from accidents caused by distracted driving, according to the latest data from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
But what has been causing distractions among drivers?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC, anything that takes your attention away from driving is considered a distraction. This may be a visual distraction, which causes you to take your eyes off the road, such as looking at billboards or glancing on your phone. This may also be a manual distraction, which causes you to take your hands off the wheel, such as eating, drinking or reaching for objects. Lastly, road accidents may be caused by cognitive distraction which takes your mind off the task of driving. Examples of cognitive distraction include talking with other people, or singing with the radio. Any of these can endanger not just the people inside the moving vehicle, but also others on the road.
Among all these distractions, however, texting while driving, is the most alarming. This is because it simultaneously involves visual, manual and cognitive distractions. Cell phone use while driving is said to take a driver’s eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds--the equivalent of 55 mph driving the length of an entire football field, blindfolded!
Indeed, in a split second, distracted driving can ruin someone’s life, injure or kill others--or worse, leave a hole in the hearts of those who are affected by irresponsible road accidents.
April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. And we, at Medstar Transportation, recognize the importance of eliminating all visual, manual, and cognitive driving distractions. Most importantly, we continue to remind all drivers to avoid texting while driving.
We must remember to keep our eyes on the road, hands on the wheel, and mind on the drive-- Because no post, text, message, or call is more important than someone’s life.