Weekly Topic...
Distractions
while driving
Recent
accidents involving cell phone use are bringing unfavorable attention to cell phone use
while driving. The driver of the car carrying supermodel Nikki Taylor was reaching
for his ringing cell phone when he lost control of the car, hitting a utility pole, and
putting Taylor in critical condition from a liver injury.
Cell phone
use while driving is all part of a dangerous new trend known as distracted driving.
According to recent research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) about 25 percent of all traffic accidents are due to driver distraction which can
include smoking, drinking, eating, and playing with the radio while driving, among other
activities.
A 1997
study by the New England Journal of Medicine found that drivers using cell phones were
four times more likely to be involved in a traffic accident. Realtors who use their
cars as offices are particularly at risk, but they are also at risk from other
distractions as more technologies go mobile. With today's technologies you can talk,
send two-way e-mail messages, access the Internet, access MLS intranets, dial four-digit
phone numbers and more, all while sitting comfortably in your mobile office - your car.
But should you use those technologies while driving? Not while you are in
motion, says most safety experts.
Yet, the
Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) says you're actually in more
danger taking a sip from your Starbucks nonfat latte, than you are reaching for your cell
phone while driving. As more state legislatures are looking at bills to outlaw
handsets while driving, cellular phones are taking a disproportionate amount of heat for
distraction-related accidents.
A new study
by the AAA Foundation of Traffic Safety found that out of 26,000 traffic accidents, less
than 2 percent of those caused by distracted driving involved wireless phone use.
According
to the AAA, the top causes of traffic accidents analyzed are:
- Outside object, person, event: 19.7%
- Eating and drinking: 18.8%
- Adjusting radio, cassette, CD: 11.4%
- Other occupant in vehicle: 9.4%
- Moving object in vehicle: 3.2%
- Using/dialing cell phone: 1.5%
- Using other device in vehicle: 1.4%
- Adjusting climate controls: 1.2%
- Smoking related: 1.2%
The real
message here is that while cell phones can contribute to driver distraction, so can other
causes. But if you are one of those who is more distracted by a cell phone, the Cellular
Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) in conjunction with the National Safety
Council (NSC) wants to address you with a new public service announcement reminding
drivers that using a phone in an automobile is always secondary to operating that vehicle
safely.
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