Distracted Driving Awareness Month encourages drivers to do away with distractions

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Distracted driving is one of the fastest growing safety issues on the roads today. Distracted drivers aren’t just a threat to themselves, they are a danger to everyone else on the road.

The national distracted driving effort focuses on ways to change the behavior of drivers through legislation, enforcement, public awareness, and education.

According to the Alabama Department of Transportation, in 2021, there were 49 certified deaths in Alabama associated with distracted driving. That is five percent of all fatalities.

Distracted driving deaths are under reported because of the challenge of identifying distracted driving as the cause of a crash, ALDOT said. Drivers are 23 times more likely to be in a crash if they are texting and driving.

Activities that take drivers’ attention off the road, including talking or texting on cellphones, eating, talking with passengers, adjusting vehicle controls, and other distractions, are major safety threats are all considered distracted driving.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there are three main types of distraction:

• Visual, taking your eyes off the road
• Manual, taking your hands off the wheel
• Cognitive, taking your mind off driving

Across the country, distracted driving claimed 3,142 lives in 2020. The Alabama Department of Transportation offers Five Ways to Avoid Distracted Driving:

1. MAKE DRIVING YOUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY

2. PUT YOUR PHONE in the back seat to help avoid temptation to respond to text messages and turn off phone, text and other notifications that ding for your attention.

3. STOP SAFELY IN A PARKING LOT (NOT ALONGSIDE THE INTERSTATE OR SHOULDER OF A ROAD) to do anything that involves taking your eyes or attention off the road.

4. ASK A PASSENGER TO HELP with navigation devices, adjusting the radio, sending a text or other actions that would require taking your hands away from the steering wheel.

5. USE A HANDS-FREE DEVICE to talk on the phone while operating a motor vehicle.

Under current Alabama law, a person may not operate a motor vehicle on a public road, street, or highway in Alabama while using a wireless telecommunication device to write, send, or read a text-based communication.

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