Distracted Driving Awareness: It’s More Than Just Putting Down Your Phone

Distracted Driving Awareness
Credit: National Safety Council

Stay safe while driving – pay attention to the road.

We’ve all seen the warnings not to text and drive and hopefully we put our phones down when we get behind the wheel. The problem is that simply putting down our phones is not enough to stop distracted driving.

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month and the National Safety Council wants to better educate us all on staying focused when we’re driving our cars. In particular, they want to disabuse us of the notion that hands-free means distraction free.

Many states have passed laws so that we can no longer talk on handheld devices, but syncing those devices to our cars and continuing to talk is perfectly okay. That may get both of our hands on the wheel, but it doesn’t get us focused on the road

Studies show that our minds are still distracted by conversations even when our hands are free and that we’re more likely to miss things like signs, pedestrians, and other vehicles. Hands-free is not risk-free so your safest bet is simply not to talk on the phone at all while driving.

Distracted Driving Awareness
Credit: National Safety Council

We’ve all become accustomed to being connected at all times, especially in our cars and our phones are the main source of that connection, but at what price? You can find out more about how to stay distraction free at the National Safety Council site and even take the pledge to stop using your phone in the car.

It’s a small change that can make a big difference in how safe we all are on the road.

Nicole Wakelin
Nicole Wakelin

Nicole Wakelin contributes to The Boston Globe, CarGurus, BestRide, and Boldride, and she hosts her own blog, http://www.nicolewakelin.com, where she geeks out about all the stuff she loves.

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