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Putting a stop to distracted driving, a costly and deadly American habit


Distracted driving is any activity that could divert a person's attention away from the primary task of driving. During April, law enforcement agencies are cracking down on violators. (Photo from UKNow)

Distracted driving is any activity that could divert a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving. During April, law enforcement agencies are cracking down on violators. (Photo from UKNow)

Staff report

April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, and law enforcement agencies in Kentucky and around the country are stepping up efforts to encourage drivers to keep their eyes on the road, their hands on the wheel and their minds on what they’re doing.

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Target: Texting

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In Kentucky, officials are focusing their National Distracted Driving Awareness Month efforts this year on trying to put a stop to one of the most dangerous of all distractions – texting.

Because texting requires visual, manual and cognitive attention, it the most alarming of all the distractions (see others below). Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for five seconds. At 55 mph, that’s like driving the length of an entire football field … blindfolded, according to Distraction.gov.

Kentucky is one of several states with laws that ban texting while driving for all ages. Violating Kentucky’s texting law can be costly. Violators will be liable for fines of $25 on a first offense and $50 on each subsequent offense, plus court costs. Or as the official campaign says: U text. U drive. U pay.

“For those who say that driving and texting is an epidemic, we believe enforcement is part of the cure,” said Kentucky Office of Highway Safety Executive Director Bill Bell.

But, as Transportation Cabinet Secretary Mike Hancock added, “We also want drivers to realize that a fine is not the only consequence of distracted driving. In fact, this year’s campaign hits close to home.”

A quarter of teens respond to a text message once or more every time they drive. Twenty percent of teens and 10 percent of parents admit that they have extended, multi-message text conversations while driving. (Distraction.gov)

A radio spot was recorded by Transportation Cabinet employee Nancy Wood, the public information officer in the District 6 Office in Covington. Nancy’s daughter, Brianna, was severely injured when her vehicle was hit by a distracted driver in 2011.

“It’s been a long journey with multiple surgeries and hospital stays, but Brianna is lucky because she survived,” Wood said. “I hope my story will help prevent other parents from receiving the type of call we all dread – that our child has been involved in a crash.”

“Texting and driving requires motorists to take their eyes off the road, hands off the wheel and mind off the task of driving,” said Bell. “It creates the proverbial ‘perfect storm’ for a crash, and no one has the right to do that on our roadways.”

According to a 2014 report in the New England Journal of Medicine, the risk of a crash or near-crash among novice drivers increased with the performance of many secondary tasks, including texting and dialing cell phones.

The University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute’s 2012 “Teen Driver Distraction Study” reports that a quarter of teens respond to a text message once or more every time they drive, and 20 percent of teens and 10 percent of parents admit that they have extended, multi-message text conversations while driving.

Cracking down on the problem

Currently, 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands ban text messaging for all drivers. All but five have primary enforcement. Of the five states without an all driver texting ban, three prohibit text messaging by novice drivers, and two restrict school bus drivers from texting.

Fourteen states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands prohibit drivers of all ages from using handheld cell phones while driving.

Note: A primary law means that an officer can ticket the driver for the offense without any other traffic violation taking place. A secondary law means an officer can only issue a ticket if a driver has been pulled over for another violation (such as speeding).

Did you know? Hand-held or hands-free cell phone use while driving delays reaction time as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. (Source: University of Utah)

In Kentucky, House Bill 415, signed into law on April 15, 2010, bans texting for drivers of all ages while the vehicle is in motion. For drivers over 18, it allows the use of global positioning devices and reading, selecting or entering a telephone number or name for the purpose of making a phone call. Texting is allowed only to report illegal activity or to request medical or emergency aid.

For drivers under 18, no use of personal communication devices, such as cellphones and pagers, is allowed while the vehicle is in motion. The use of a global positioning system is allowed, but manually entering information must be completed while the vehicle is stopped.

Other distractions

Distracted driving is any activity that could divert a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving. All distractions endanger driver, passenger and bystander safety. They include:

‣ Texting
‣ Using a cell phone or smartphone
‣ Eating and drinking
‣ Talking to passengers
‣ Grooming
‣ Reading, including maps
‣ Using a navigation system
‣ Watching a video
‣ Adjusting a radio, CD player or MP3 player

In Kentucky in 2014, there were over 53,500 crashes resulting in over 14,000 injuries and 169 fatalities due to distracted driving. On a national level, driver distraction is the leading factor in most crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Nearly 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involve some form of distraction within three seconds before the event.

There are three primary types of distractions:

Visual – taking your eyes off the road
Manual – taking your hands off the wheel
Cognitive – taking your mind off what you’re doing

While all distractions can be dangerous, texting is considered one of the most dangerous because it involves all three types.

From Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center at University of Kentucky (Click image for larger view)

From Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center at University of Kentucky (Click image for larger view)

Frequently asked questions

If distracted driving is so dangerous, why do people do it?

Some people still don’t know how dangerous distracted driving is. Others know about the risks of texting and talking while driving, but still choose to do so anyway. They make the mistake of thinking the statistics don’t apply to them, that they can defy the odds. Still others simply lead busy, stressful lives and use cell phones and smartphones to stay connected with their families, friends, and workplaces. They forget or choose not to shut these devices off when they get behind the wheel.

Who are the most serious offenders?

Our youngest and most inexperienced drivers are most at risk, with 16 percent of all distracted driving crashes involving drivers under 20. But they are not alone. At any given moment during daylight hours, over 660,000 vehicles are being driven by someone using a hand-held cell phone.

Is it safe to use a hands-free device to talk on a cell phone while driving?

So far, the research indicates that the cognitive distraction of having a hands-free phone conversation causes drivers to miss the important visual and audio cues that would ordinarily help you avoid a crash.

Why doesn’t the U.S. government make distracted driving illegal?

Passenger car driving behavior falls under the jurisdiction of the individual states, so the U.S. government can’t ban it. Congress has considered a number of laws to prevent distracted driving, but nothing has passed yet.

From Distraction.gov

Need more proof?

The U.S. Department of Transportation* has put together a limited bibliography of various research reports concerning distracted driving. Here are a few:

“Blueprint for Ending Distracted Driving,” NHTSA 2012
This policy document from NHTSA contains distracted driving statistics and outlines concrete steps stakeholders around the country can take to reduce the risk posed by distracted driving.

“Teen Distracted Driving Data,” NHTSA 2014
This factsheet includes data for teens and distracted driving in 2013.

“Distracted Driving Among Newly Licensed Teens,” AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety 2012
Electronic device use and other distracted driving behaviors were strongly associated with (teens’) looking away from the roadway. Females were twice as likely as males to be using an electronic device.

“Americans and Text Messaging,” Pew Research Center 2011
Cell owners between the ages of 18 and 24 exchange an average of 109.5 messages on a normal day. Overall, the survey found that both text messaging and phone calling on cell phones have leveled off for the adult population as a whole.

“Mobile Device Use While Driving: U.S. and 7 European Countries,” CDC 2011
More than two-thirds of U.S. adult drivers aged reported they had talked on their cell phone while driving at least once in the past 30 days. In European countries, percentages ranged from 20 percent to 60 percent.

“Young Drivers Report the Highest Level of Phone Involvement in Crash or Near-Crash Incidences,” NHTSA 2012
This research note extracts information from the December 2011 survey about cell phone use and distracted driving for young drivers.

“National Distracted Driving Telephone Survey Finds Most Drivers Answer the Call, Hold the Phone, and Continue to Drive,” NHTSA 2011
This report summarizes the National Phone Survey on Distracted Driving Attitudes and Behaviors conducted in 2011.

“Eyes on the road: Searching for answers to the problem of distracted driving,” IIHS 2014
A new study by IIHS in partnership with Virginia Tech helps clarify the risk of cellphone use behind the wheel and offers insight into other distracting things drivers do when they aren’t using cellphones. The research points to the need for a broader strategy to deal with the ways that drivers can be distracted.

“Understanding the Effects of Distracted Driving and Developing Strategies to Reduce Resulting Deaths and Injuries,” NHTSA 2013
This report documents what is known about distracted driving, including distractions other than the use of personal communications devices, discusses metrics to better determine the nature and scope of the problem, and discusses countermeasure approaches and strategies for enhancing awareness and reducing deaths and injuries.

“Distracted Driving and Risk of Road Crashes among Novice and Experienced Drivers,” NEJM 2014
Novice drivers engaged in secondary tasks more frequently over time … possibly because of increased confidence in driving… Dialing and texting (is a) significant risk factor, particularly among novice drivers.

*The USDOT does not endorse the research listed, nor does non-DOT research represent the official position of DOT, its agencies or its employees. Click here for more research

For additional information:

AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
American Institute for Public Safety
Governors Highway Safety Association
National Safety Council


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