Cellphones are an integral part of our daily lives and so we use them all the time. We read news on our smartphones, get weather and traffic conditions, text, and can even watch TV and movies on our phones. This pervasiveness of smartphone technology has come with a price, however. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that 660,000 drivers use electronic devices while driving daily, thereby increasing the amount of distracted driving over the years, and putting all those on the road at risk, including drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.

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What is “distracted driving”?

Distracted driving has a very clear definition. Anything that redirects a driver’s attention away from the task of driving — whether it’s a person, activity, or an object — is considered distracted driving. This includes eating, putting on makeup, shaving, and talking on their cell phone or texting. Even arguing with someone else in the car is sufficient to divert attention away from the task of driving because it's time taken away from staying focused. The key factor is what researchers call 'cognitive intensity' which means how much attention the task or activity requires. The greater the focus shift, the greater the risk of an accident.

The results of distracted driving can be deadly. In 2015, the most recent year for which official statistics have been published, there were 3,477 deaths and 391,000 injuries attributed to distracted driving. That high of a percent of the driving community is a major loss.

AT&T launched the It Can Wait campaign in 2010 to combat texting while driving, and it has the support of more than 1,500 organizations, including some auto insurers. The campaign encourages drivers to sign a pledge not to drive distracted, and AT&T has developed a free “drive mode” app that silences text message alerts, and sends an automatic response notifying whomever texted that the recipient is driving.

Slogans are also one of the many ways companies campaign for safe driving. Awareness campaigns can be incredibly helpful to reach out to people about why phone usage and other distracting behaviors are so dangerous while one is behind the wheel. A catchy slogan can stick in someone's mind, and counteract the dangerous things drivers tend to do.

More Distracting Than People Realize

Although most people who text while they are driving believe that they are only taking their eyes off the road for a moment, it presents more of an issue than people realize. They have no idea how long they really stop focusing on the road, but that quick message isn't that quick. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that on average a text took a driver’s eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds. When driving at 55 mph, that is the equivalent of driving the length of a football field blindfolded, which should be a bit of a wake-up call.

Model Good Behavior

One of the most important things that parents can do is to model good driving behavior for their children. If you’re a parent, don’t talk on the phone or text while you are driving. If you’re the parent of a teen driver, talk to them about the dangers of distracted driving. Let them know that there are designated stops for messaging, and think about enrolling them in defensive driving courses. As an adult, knowing that you should practice and also teach safe driving procedures can help save lives.

Know the Law

Forty-seven states ban texting while driving for all drivers, and all but four are 'primary enforcement' states, meaning a law enforcement officer can pull you over and ticket you based on that infraction alone. Fifteen states prohibit hand-held cellphone use for all drivers. Thirty-eight states ban all cellphone use by 'novice drivers'. Some municipalities can have more restrictive rules, while some states have preemption laws on the books that prohibit local jurisdictions from having their own bans.

Commit to give driving your full attention because distracted drivers are dangerous not only to themselves but to others. Distracted driving affects us all in some way — increased accidents raise premiums, and the dangers on the roadways are obvious to anyone who has ever been behind a driver whose attention is elsewhere. Plus, even if you think that your response time is pristine, someone else driving on the road may not be able to say the same. Simply put, driving while distracted is a dangerous idea.

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