Breaking Down the Distracted-Driving Epidemic
Have you ever tried to type up an important work document while chatting on the phone with a friend? Probably not. As popular as multitasking is in the modern age, there are some things that are nearly impossible for the human brain to do effectively. But then, how many times have you had the same kind of casual phone conversation while you were driving down the street? Very few of us are as attentive drivers as we think we are. Whether we’re changing the music, sending a quick text back to a colleague, or having a full-on phone conversation with a relative during our commute home, pretty much everyone is guilty of driving while distracted. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), as many as 481,000 drivers use their cellphones while driving every day .
study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, performing the types of manual-visual tasks that go part and parcel with cellphone use — dialing numbers, scrolling through contacts, and accepting a call, etc. — increases the risk of getting into a serious collision by three times . And that’s just on average. Texting increases risk by 23 times , and even the simple task of reaching for your device increases risk by nine times . Though it may not get much press, driving while distracted is an American epidemic, claiming 3,450 lives in 2015 alone, according to the NHTSA. While teens are often cited as the greatest offenders, they’re far from alone. To curb the dangers of distracted driving, we all must pledge to focus when we’re behind the wheel. Even when you do something as innocuous as glancing at your phone while you’re cruising down the street, you take not only your life but the lives of your fellow drivers into your hands. Are you prepared for that responsibility? Sudoku
Now, for many of us, this statistic may not be too scary. After all, most of us are using our phones on the road, too. But according to a recent
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