All hope is not lost! Distracted driving can still be avoided. According to an editorial published in the British Medical Journal, technology is the key. Family physician Charles Pless and McGill University professor emeritus Barry Pless wrote, “The paradox seems inevitable. The most promising solution to distracted driving, like using mobile phones, may well be more technology.” They said that while education can be considered the most “inexpensive, inoffensive and politically easy” way to lessen phone use while driving, there is not a lot of evidence to support this claim.
Related: Can Technology Allow For Safe Use Of Phones While Driving?
During certain situations, such as when one is hurt or is in the emergency room, counseling, according to the experts, may be effective. Educating people through media may also be effective. However, there is not enough evidence to show if this helps. Thus, using technology, such as sending text messages to callers, when a person is driving could offer the most help.
The huge problem with technology and driving
Distracted driving is serious. It has taken so many lives, and it should not be taken lightly. Here are some distracted driving statistics:
- The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety stated that drivers are four times more likely to be involved in an accident when texting behind the wheel.
- In 2011, 3,331 people died and 387,000 were injured in road accidents involving distracted driving.
- According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, merely reading a text message takes a driver’s attention for about 4.6 seconds. That may sound quick, but in that period of time, a driver can cover the length of a football field when traveling at 55 miles per hour.
- To top it off, drivers who text are said to be 23 times more likely to be involved in crashes than the attentive ones.
- Not only that, but the U.S. Department of Transportation stated that 16% of all distracted driving crashes involve drivers below the age of 20.
- Another report from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety named electronics as the number one distraction for teens.
Related: AAA Study: Distractions, Serious Problem Among Teen Drivers
As a Kentucky Accident Attorney, I believe that no effort is too small when it comes to road safety. This may seem strange to use technology to help us not look at our cell phones while driving. However, there’s nothing wrong with checking out strategies that, according to experts, may be more effective in preventing distracted driving. Distracted driving has taken too many lives. Let’s put down our phones and focus on the road and our surroundings when driving.