A recent survey by National Mutual Insurance showed that nearly 72 % of the drivers say they are multitasking while driving, which included using a cell phone (texting and talking), eating, drinking, reading, and the list of all the other distractions can go on and on. WOW 72 % – Some of you probably think that’s too low!
Now, I’m no angel, in the past I’ve done all these distractions while driving, I’ve switched an iPod, Cd’s, cassettes and yes, even an 8 track because I wanted to listen to Van Halen instead of The Eagles. But since I’ve been teaching defensive driving, I have become enlighten to just how bad these distractions really are. I’m sure every driver has multi-tasked at least once in their driving years, but with all these distractions like cell phones, GPS screens, even DVD players, this is becoming more and more dangerous, not only to you but everybody else sharing the road with you.
It seems like some people multitask and wear it like a badge of honor, like somehow they are more productive than those who just focus on doing one thing at a time. Distractions are becoming the leading cause of motor vehicle collisions around the country. This has become a nationwide epidemic! If you must talk on the phone pull over to a safe area, if you have to dig through your CD case, do it at the red light, but pay attention to when the light changes and put away the crossword puzzle. If you are caught reading a book, doing a crossword or writing poetry while driving, you should be sentenced to highway clean up, forced to take a driving safety course and write 100 sentences; “I WILL NOT BE A STUPID DRIVER”. Ok, maybe the driving safety course would be too cruel and unusual.
Talk to you next week.
Take care-
Danny Keaton