There are two types of drivers out there: Those who have nearly had an accident because their attention was diverted from the road — otherwise known as distracted driving — and those who deny that they’ve ever had a close call because of a distraction.
Actually, there’s a third type of driver: Those who have had an accident, perhaps resulting in injury or death, because of distracted driving.
Nationwide, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 3,179 deaths and 431,000 injuries were attributed to motor vehicle accidents involving distracted driving in 2014, an increase from the year before when 3,158 people died and 424,000 were injured. Drunk driving accounted for more than three times the number of deaths, 9,967 in 2014, more than 30 percent of all traffic-related deaths, but the tragedies that result from distracted driving are still significant.
As part of April’s Distracted Driving Awareness Month, police and other law enforcement agencies in the state are out on special emphasis patrols, watching for distracted drivers between now and April 14. Those pulled over for the infraction can be fined $124.
Emphasis patrol or not, last year the Washington State Patrol stopped more than 18,000 drivers for talking on cellphones and another 4,126 for texting.
A survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 69 percent of drivers 18 to 64 years of age reported talking on their phones while driving in the previous 30 days; and 31 percent admitted to sending or reading text messages.
Distracted driving can include a number of activities as we attempt to multi-task behind the wheel, including eating and drinking, grooming, talking with passengers or fiddling with the controls on stereos and navigation systems.
Distractions, according to the CDC, can include those that divert our eyes from the road, prompt us to take one or both hands off the steering wheel or take our mind off driving. Add one type of distraction on top of the other, as happens when eating a burger or taking a sip of coffee, and the danger increases.
Using a cellphone, whether to have a conversation or send or read text messages, involves all three types of distractions.
And it’s a distraction that can be hard to ignore for some. Many of us have developed a Pavlovian response to our phones, says an emergency room doctor at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center who has seen the tragedy that can result.
“We have trained ourselves to answer the bell,” Dr. Beth Ebel of Harborview’s Injury Prevention Resources Center told The Herald’s Eric Stevick. “I see this as a very challenging problem.”
It’s especially so for young drivers. Of drivers between the ages of 15 and 19 involved in fatal accidents, 10 percent were distracted, typically by a phone.
Teens and adults rationalize that they’re only looking away for a moment. Actually, texting, on average, diverts attention for about 5 seconds, long enough for a car at 55 mph to travel about 100 yards, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Drivers, regardless of their years of driving experience, need to remind themselves that they are the ones in control of both the wheel and the phone. A ringing phone or a tweet doesn’t require immediate attention. It can wait until the gearshift is in Park.
While we’re at it, let’s extend the warning to distracted walkers: Looking down at a phone while walking a city street or across a store parking lot is an invitation to an accident; can you be certain that the drivers are watching for you and not looking down at their phones?
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