Houston, Texas (PRWEB) September 30, 2013 -- What is a distracted driver? This term refers to someone operating a vehicle while multitasking. For example, the driver may be talking on a cellphone, eating, tuning to a different radio station or looking at other drivers. Anything that the driver is doing that shifts their focus to something other than driving is a distracted driver.
Who is a distracted driver? Everyone! The National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that drivers under the age of 20 maybe the largest proportion of drivers that drive while being distracted and 11% of this age group are involved in fatal crashes while driving distracted. While this may point to a teenage distracted driving, recently, the governor of New York went along on a ride with state police and a local news crew to search and cite for individuals that text while driving. On that particular ride with the state police, all drivers they pulled over and cited for texting and driving were all adults. Additionally, a survey completed by AT&T in recent month’s points to an increasing amount of adults that text while they drive.
Cellphone companies are active against drivers that text and drive by promoting “It can Wait.” The “It can Wait” campaign, is sponsored by the four major cellphone companies and other corporations. Their website contains the emotional stories of lives that have been effected by automobile accidents which involved motorists that were texting while driving. The site also promotes methods to get involved against texting while driving and how to spread the word against it.
Several states also discourage distracted driving by having laws against it. Currently 41 states have laws banning texting while driving. 9 other states have not banned texting while driving but have incorporated educating people on the topic in schools. Texas defensive driving courses inform their students of recent Texas law changes that increase the area that drivers are prohibited from using their cellphones. Drivers cannot use their cellphones while driving in active school zones or public property of the school.
New York State has some of the strictest cell phone laws behind the wheel and is even promoting “Texting Zones” for distracted drivers. These zones are rest stations that drivers can use to stop and use their cellphones while they are at a complete stop.
Distracted driving is not only specific to cellphone usage while driving. As stated earlier, distracted driving are drivers whose focus is not solely on driving. Distraction.gov posts on their website that trying to multitask at the same time the motorists is driving increases the risk of the driver getting into a wreck by 23%. They also state a driver that takes their eyes of the road will travel the length of a football field going 55mph. Drivers should put down their phone and specifically only drive to prevent causing an accident and also to prevent from being hit from someone else that is distracted.
Comedy Driving, Inc. teaches defensive driving techniques and is approved as a Texas defensive driving provider and a 4 Hour BDI Florida Traffic School provider.
Jeffrey Bitner, Comedy Driving Inc, +1 (713) 465-0042, [email protected]
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