If you’re driving down the highway, do you think there is ever a circumstance when it’s safe or smart to close your eyes for five seconds?
If you’re driving down the highway, do you think there is ever a circumstance when it’s safe or smart to close your eyes for five seconds?
Keeping your eyes on the road is one of the first things we all learn about safe driving. So why would anyone think it’s OK to text when behind the wheel, or do anything else that takes your attention from driving?
It takes about five seconds, on average, to read or send a text. Not a lot of time. But in that span of time, with your eyes on your phone and not on the road, a vehicle traveling 55 miles an hour can travel the length of a football field. In that instant, over that distance, a life can be taken — perhaps yours.
Distracted driving killed 3,477 people on America’s roads in 2015, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
If you’re caught texting and driving you’ll be pulled over and ticketed because you’re putting your life and the life of others at risk, police said. The fine for distracted driving is $297, and up to $3,000 when using an electronic device while operating a commercial motor vehicle. Additionally, an employer can be fined $11,000 for allowing or requiring commercial drivers to use an electronic device while driving.
Distracted driving also is about more than just electronic diversions. It’s anything you’re doing behind the wheel that undermines safe driving, including eating and drinking, fiddling with the music or the air conditioner or checking yourself in the mirror. Recently, a driver distracted by her dog took her eyes off the road, crossed the center line and crashed head-on into a sheriff’s deputy’s vehicle in Davis County, Utah.
So during April, Distracted Driving Awareness Month, make a positive, lifesaving change that will make you safer year-round.
Before you start the car, shut down your phone. Put it out of reach so you won’t be tempted by it. Recommit yourself to safe driving by not giving in to distraction and by focusing solely on the road.
You’ll save yourself the cost of a ticket and maybe even save a life.