This week I’m teaming up with the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the Auto Alliance to promote a very special cause. The Decide to Drive campaign was started to raise the awareness of distracted driving and its dangers. Having known people, including family members who were involved in car accidents, this is a very important issue to me. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), of the nearly 33,000 roadway fatalities in 2012, there were 3,328 fatalities and approximately 421,000 injuries in distracted driving-related crashes.
Last year when I got my new car, I was almost in two wrecks due to distracted driving. In one case, a car actually did hit mine. As I was backing out of my parking space, another lady started backing and ran right in to me. She apologized to me and said that she thought she had looked, but she did not see me. Then less than a week later, I barely avoided another accident. This time the person was in front of me. They flipped their blinker and proceeded to turn in to a parking lot, but at the last second they changed their mind, and decided to swerve back in to the road. Luckily, I always tend to drive a little slower and have my brake covered just in case something like this happens.
In my own experience and in incidents I have witnessed, I have noticed that “distracted driving” seems to common thread. More often than not, I hear people recall, “I didn’t see the person,” or “the person didn’t even look up before they pulled out.”
How can you avoid distracted driving? Here are a few tips I have:
- Adjust everything in your car before leaving, including seats, mirrors, and even your music player and air conditioner.
- Keep hands on the wheel, and if you get distracted by anything (a crying child, phone call, or anything at all) pull over before taking care of the problems.
- Don’t text or even use your phone while driving. Wait until you are parked somewhere.
- If anything upsets you from a near wreck to an unpleasant conversation or argument with your passenger, pull over.
- Keep eyes on the road and avoid looking at “the scenery” (reading billboards, looking at houses/businesses, looking at the wreck on the side of the road).
- Keep hands on the wheel and focus on driving rather than trying to complete other tasks (doing makeup, dealing with kids, reading, etc.)
The infographic below provides other tips you should follow in order to avoid distracted driving:
What else can you do to avoid distracted driving? Please leave a comment on this post OR better yet, tweet this post and your tips using hashtag #DecideToDrive!
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
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