DON’T TEXT, MAP, CHAT. KEEP EYES ON THE ROAD
Pokémon Go makes news every day for making driving more dangerous, which has prompted Nintendo to issue safety warnings, including one that says, “Do not play Pokémon Go while driving.” What gets left out is the number of other distractions that take the drivers’ attention off the road, leading to avoidable crashes and injury.
After Russia, India has the secondmost-deadly roads in the world. Seven people are killed on India’s roads every hour — that’s one person dead every 3.5 minutes. And of the more than 500,000 road accidents that occurred last year, 71% happened because of driver’s error, showed India’s Road Transport Ministry data released in June. The rest of the accidents are caused by defective roads, mixed road usage and pedestrians.
The biggest cause of distractions is mobile phone use, but there are other distractions that cause injury and pile-ups. Here are some things to avoid doing while driving. voice-navigation instruction mode is less intrusive than tracking information on a visual display, especially when the device offers turn-by-turn instructions rather than holistic route information.
Changing FM stations, using the airconditioning remote control, tinkering with dashboard displays and opening and closing windows while driving are equally dangerous because while doing these things, most people don’t even realise that their full attention is not on the road. It’s best to pull over while playing with the remotes or dash.
Friends in the car, especially if they loud and boisterous, are very distracting and among the leading cause of accidents involving young drivers. The chances of being involved in a fatal crash go up four times if there are two or more friends in the car, especially if they are teens or young men.
Compared with no passengers, having one passenger under age 21 (and no older passengers) raises the risk of a crash by 44%; having two under 21 doubles risk, and three or more passengers roughly quadruples risk. Having at least one passenger 35 or older lowers risk of a crash by 46%.
Smoking, eating and drinking even non-alcoholic drinks while driving takes attention off the road and leaves you with just one hand on the wheel. Eating is more distracting than talking on a mobile phone, but less distracting than conversing with other passengers, studies have found. In the US, people have been ticketed for eating a burger while driving.