{"id":953,"date":"2016-02-12T19:41:18","date_gmt":"2016-02-12T19:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/?p=953"},"modified":"2021-07-10T20:38:03","modified_gmt":"2021-07-10T20:38:03","slug":"the-danges-of-distracted-driving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/2016\/02\/12\/the-danges-of-distracted-driving\/","title":{"rendered":"The Danger of Distracted Driving"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HighwayI recognized the small truck right away. The logo on the vehicle’s door represented a local company that I respected. One that I had done business with in the past. Driving next to the pick-up on a two lane highway outside of town, we were stopped by a red light in adjacent lanes. The sun had set over an hour earlier. Even though it was dark, the light from a cellphone clasped in the hands of a young female driver illuminated the truck’s cab.\u00a0Her long hair obscured most of her face, because she was glancing down glued to her cellphone screen instead of the road in front of her. Not only that, but when the light turned green, mesmerized by a text or Facebook post, she didn\u2019t move.<\/p>\n

After driving about a half mile down the 50 mph highway, I looked in my rearview mirror concerned that she would get hit from behind. The mother in me frantically wanted to warn her to start moving. Thankfully, she finally did. At the next red light, it happened all over again. The distracted girl remained oblivious to her surroundings engrossed in the phone. A second time the truck sat still when the light turned green. This time when I glanced back, the mother in me wanted to take her car keys away.<\/p>\n

As a nation, we are justifiably concerned over the possibility of another terrorist attack. Yet in all probability, it\u2019s a driver more interested in their iPhone than safe driving practices that could contribute to our demise. A September Wall Street Journal article reported that traffic fatalities surged 14% (NSC statistics) in the first half of 2015 blamed on more drivers, cheaper gas, catastrophic weather, etc. But famed Berkshire-Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet says that he believes distracted driving could be an \u201coverlooked contributor.\u201d<\/p>\n

In reality, we have no idea how many auto collisions occur annually due to our addiction to our phones, especially with the invention of the Smartphone. According to a USA Today article last year, \u201cCellphone use causes one in four car accidents\u201d by Gabrielle Kratsas. \u201cThe [2014 edition] of National Safety Council’s annual injury and fatality report<\/span><\/a>, “Injury Facts,” found that the use of cellphones\u2026 [caused] 26% of the nation’s car accidents, a modest increase from the previous year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although this report doesn\u2019t include all the incidents where drivers did not divulge that they were on their phones. For example, can you imagine anyone reporting, \u201cI was on my cellphone not paying any attention when I plowed into your vehicle.\u201d<\/em> Nor did \u201cInjury Facts\u201d name texting as the primary culprit, since in 95% of the cases investigated, drivers were using hand-held or hand-free cellphones.<\/p>\n

Fourteen states currently ban hand-held cellphone use while driving, but Ohio is not one. If we are honest, most of us have difficulty doing more than one task at a time. Especially, when that task involves use of a cellphone while travelling 70 plus miles an hour on the interstate. It\u2019s not just at high rates of speed either. How many times have you been stopped at a red light when you observe a preoccupied motorist like the girl in the company truck? It\u2019s even more frightening to be moving along and spot another driver\u2019s neck in the downward dog yoga position fixated on their phone.<\/p>\n

\"EndNot long ago, driving a car was a privilege that came with weighty societal responsibility. Today, young drivers are at increased risk due to their lack of experience. The CDC reports that \u201cthey have the highest proportion of distraction-related fatal crashes.\u201d But older drivers are guilty too. Distracted driving includes: cellphone use, texting, applying makeup, programming a GPS, eating, arguing with a passenger, etc. The U.S. Department of Transportation reports that, \u201cIn 2013, 3,154 people were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver\u2026an additional 424,000 people were injured.\u201d If you\u2019ve ever fought your way back to health following a serious wreck, you realize that those numbers represent countless individuals whose lives have been severely impacted by someone else\u2019s possibly careless behavior.<\/p>\n

We all want to use our Smartphones, so many of us are contributing unnecessarily to the problem by looking the other way. There are Ohio laws against texting, but the National Safety Council advises folks who want to be part of the solution to \u201cSupport Cellphone distracted driving legislation\u2026 for bills banning cell phone use-handheld and [even] hands-free-while driving.\u201d This might seem a little drastic, but what would be a good solution to stop distracted driving?<\/p>\n

\"ChristinaChristina Ryan Claypool is an award-winning freelance journalist and inspirational speaker. Contact her through her website at www.christinaryanclaypool.com.\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recognized the small truck right away. The logo on the vehicle’s door represented a local company that I respected. One that I had done business with in the past. Driving next to the pick-up on a two lane highway … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,14],"tags":[492,707,716,710,706,711,717,714,708,713,709,715,712],"class_list":["post-953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-practical-advice-on-the-road-less-traveled","tag-accidents","tag-automobile","tag-cellphone","tag-crashes","tag-distracted-driving","tag-fatality","tag-injury-accidents","tag-insurance-rates","tag-iphone","tag-national-safety-council","tag-smartphone","tag-us-department-of-transportation","tag-wall-street-journal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=953"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1759,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions\/1759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}