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About Distractions
 Top
Driving Distractions
Survival
Strategies
Safe driving requires
a driver’s complete
attention and concentration. A momentary distraction
can lead to tragedy on the road. Yet multiple surveys
and studies document that America is a nation of
distracted drivers. NHTSA estimates that more than
1.5 million police-reported crashes involved some
kind of driver distraction. Drive for Life’s
2003 national survey of driver behavior found that
most drivers engage in one or more other activities
while driving, including eating (59%), talking
on a cell phone (37%) and even reading (14%).
Those results echo the findings of a 2002 NHTSA
survey that found drivers also talk to other passengers
(81%), change radio stations or CDs (66%.), or
deal with children in the back seat (24%).
While drivers are estimated to make a billion
driving trips a week while engaging in these behaviors,
fewer than one in four drivers perceives them as
distracting or making driving more dangerous. For
instance, drivers who use cell phones while driving
are half as likely to feel that cell phone use
is dangerous.
One in four drivers have been involved in a crash
in the past five years. About 7.17 million drivers
involved in a crash attribute the cause to distractions
and 292,000 attribute the cause specifically to
talking on a cell phone (NHTSA, National Survey,
Spring 2002).
Top Driving Distractions
- CD/Cassette Players and Radio
- Children
- Pets
- Eating
- Drinking
- Smoking
- Cell phones
- Personal grooming
Survival strategies
- Keep your eyes on the road in
the direction the car is moving at all times.
- Avoid using a cell phone while
driving. If you must, place the call only when
stopped.
- Ask front seat passengers to
change CDs, wait until you are stopped, or invest
in a multiple CD-changer.
- If you must eat in the car ,
pack along finger foods that are small pieces
and won't dribble, drip or leak. Have them someplace
easy to reach or handed to you. If you stop for
food, avoid the drive-thru; instead, take a break
and eat at a table.
- Drinks in the car should
be in spill-proof containers that fit your beverage
holders. Use a straw to keep both eyes on the
road even if both hands are not on the wheel.
- Establish rules, rewards and consequences with
children for disruptive and good behavior before
a road trip.
- Pull off the road to deal
with a disciplinary situation.
- If a child is crying but
otherwise fine and stopping is not an option,
turn up the radio, breathe deeply, and remember
that your job is to focus on driving.
- Secure items that move or
roll around the car and distract you from driving.
- Use a pet restraint system or
transport small pets in carriers.
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