On National Distracted Driving Awareness Month
April has been designated as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and that’s a good reminder of the importance of putting down your cellphone or anything else while you drive and putting your focus exactly where it should be: on the road and your surroundings.
Oh, and if common sense and the fear of a deadly wreck aren’t enough to convince you of the need to not drive distractedly, there may just be a ticket in your future if law enforcement sees you endangering yourself and others by not paying proper attention when you’re driving.
Georgia’s “hands-free law” took effect on July 1, 2018, and forbids drivers from holding a phone or supporting a phone with their body when they are driving.
The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety and 16 regional traffic enforcement networks will be conducting specialized distracted driving enforcement operations throughout the state during April.
“Georgia’s hands-free law is saving lives, but we still see too many drivers with a phone in their hand when they are on the road,” Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Director Allen Poole said in a press release. “For those who are pulled over for having a phone in their hand, do not ask for a warning because this is your warning to park your phone when you are driving.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as outlined in the press release, “the number of traffic crash deaths linked to driver distraction accounted for almost 9% of all fatalities in the United States in 2019. Drivers in the 15 to 19 age group had the largest proportion of drivers who were distracted at the time of fatal crashes at 9%.”
And “Even though overall traffic fatalities in the United States dropped from 2018 to 2019, distraction-related fatalities increased by 10% from 2018 to 2019.”
“The goal of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month is to show everyone that driving is a serious responsibility that requires our full attention every time we are behind the wheel,” Poole said. “While we all think of phones when we hear distracted driving, distracted driving is anything that we do behind the wheel that takes our hands, eyes or attention away from the road.”
The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety identified three types of distraction for drivers:
♦ “Manual distractions cause a driver to take their hand off the wheel, like when eating, grooming, dialing a phone number or typing a text message.”
♦ “Visual distractions cause a driver to take their eyes off the road, such as looking at a navigational device, a crash on the road or signs and billboards.”
♦ “Cognitive distractions cause a driver to lose their focus on what is happening on the road, like when they are talking on a phone, talking to a passenger or daydreaming.”
Don’t be that person. Don’t put yourself or others in danger when you are driving. As the press release implores, “set ... phones and wireless devices to the ‘Do Not Disturb While Driving’ setting. This feature will block all calls and messages to your phone when you are on the road and will notify the person trying to contact you that you are driving and will respond when you have reached your destination.”
Life is too precious. Protect it, that of yourself and others, by being fully alert and focused when behind the wheel. You can’t afford not to be.