Teens Learn About Distracted Driving at Woodinville High School Seminar

By Brandi Livingston

In 2011, more than one-third of drivers surveyed by the Centers for Disease Control said that driving felt less safe, compared to five years beforehand. The most commonly given reason? Distracted driving.

Distracted driving is any activity that takes your attention away from driving. There are three categories of distracted driving: visual (taking your eyes off the road), manual (taking your hands off the road), and cognitive (taking your mind off the road). Common distractions include using a phone, eating, drinking talking to passengers, changing the radio station, and texting.

Texting is the most dangerous type of distracted driving, as it is a visual, manual and cognitive distraction. King County Sheriff’s Deputy Heather Volpe agrees, “You wouldn’t close your eyes for a few seconds if you were on the freeway. So why would you text?” she said.

In the last few years, because of the amount of accidents and deaths due to distracted driving, there has been an increase of campaigns to raise and spread awareness about the problem of distracted driving.

One program, Deputies at Woodinville High School on April 7 for a Collision Education Awareness Class. The class, for drivers both new and experienced, included crashed vehicle exhibits, occupant safety and restraints, area and pedestrian collisions, among other topics.

Here in Washington State, as in most other states in the U.S., there are laws to reduce the amount of distracted driving and the accidents it causes. These laws include these three primary points;

1. Drivers are prohibited from holding cell phones and other wireless communications devices to their ears.
2. Teenage drivers are barred from using all cell phones and other wireless communications devices.
3. Drivers are prohibited from text messaging

 Facts and Statistics

Courtesy of www.distraction.gov

•  In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in crashes involving driver distraction, and an estimated 448,000 were injured. (NHTSA) 
• 16% of fatal crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving. (NHTSA)
• In the month of June 2011, more than 196 billion text messages were sent or received in the US, up nearly 50% from June 2009. (CTIA)
• Teen drivers are more likely than other age groups to be involved in a fatal crash where distraction is reported. In 2009, 16% of teen drivers involved in a fatal crash were reported to have been distracted. (NHTSA)
• 40% of all American teens say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put people in danger. (Pew)
• Drivers who use hand-held devices are 4 times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. (Monash University)
• Text messaging creates a crash risk 23 times worse than driving while not distracted. (VTTI)
• Sending or receiving a text takes a driver’s eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, the equivalent-at 55 mph-of driving the length of an entire football field, blind. (VTTI)
• Using a cell phone while driving - whether it’s hand-held or hands-free delays a driver’s reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. (University of Utah)

--Brandi Livingston is a student at Woodinville High School, she wrote this story for the school's student newspaper, Quill.