You are on your way home from work when your phone rings. The split second that goes by when you take your eyes off of the road to answer your phone is all it takes to find yourself upside down on the other side of the street because you went off the road. When compared to over speeding, distracted driving is far more dangerous. Unlike speeding, you are completely focused, although driving recklessly you are still in control but when you are distracted you lose all sense of control because you switch your focus to whatever is causing the distraction.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA, there were 37,461 fatalities on our roads, which is almost a 6% increase from 2015. 10% of all fatal vehicular accidents and 15% of all injuries from car crashes are caused by distracted driving. This is 3,746 lives lost because of being distracted while driving, with nearly 400,000 people becoming injured due to accidents caused by distracted driving. Half of car accidents involving teen drivers are caused by distracted driving as well.
There are many different kinds of distractions that can take our focus off of the road such as cell phones, people, entertainment systems, and that is just the normal things. When driving, many people do an array of different kinds of tasks from getting dressed to reading a book. The sky is really the limit on what people do while behind the wheel. This poses a serious risk to not only themselves but also to everyone around them.
A good example of distracted driving is using the phone while behind the wheel. Talking on the phone while driving is the equivalent of driving while under the influence and for perspective, taking your eyes off of the road for five seconds driving at high way speeds is enough time to go across an entire football field!
For your safety and the safety of others, keep your eyes on the road and focus on your driving. AODD’s Online Traffic School is an online traffic school in San Juan Capistrano CA that provides excellent tips and training when you want to learn how to drive or improve your skills behind the wheel, check us out for safer driving techniques.
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