Drivers have been advised to make the commitment to never use their phones while driving, as thousands of people continue to depart for their vacation destinations.
The CEO of MasterDrive, Eugene Herbert, advises handing your phone to your “co-pilot” so they may answer texts, choose the music or do any other work that will keep you from driving and possibly avoid a catastrophic collision.
“Driving is a mentally demanding task. Drivers need to divide their attention between operating vehicle controls, looking out for hazards, changing traffic patterns as well as scanning the area for suspicious individuals. If you add distracted driving to these myriad obstacles, your risk is increased as much as it would if you were driving after drinking.”
Herbert further shares statistics that give insights into the dangers of texting and driving and ways to avoid it.
According to a Forbes Advisor, on average in the US, drivers spend about 1.38 minutes on their phone, for every hour of driving. It takes 30 to 60 days to break a habit – challenge yourself to not touch your phone while driving so that the habit is gone by February.
The same Advisor states that the majority of distracted driving occurs between 6pm and 11pm, while the least distracted driving happens between 6am and 9am.
“The truth is, it is never safe to use your phone and drive, whatever the time of day,” he said.
In 2020, figures in the US indicated that 3 142 people died because of distracted driving. The modern car is generally equipped with an array of hands-free features which may still cause drivers’ focus to shift.
Data from the US says about 12% of all car accidents happens as a result of cellphone use while driving. While many people will never even consider risky driving behaviours, they do still use phones and drive, which is just as, if not more, dangerous than those risky behaviours.
A driver being distracted for a few seconds removes the time they have for evasive action to avoid a collision. The Forbes Advisor says in general, human reaction time is .75 of a second while the general mechanical reaction time is an additional .75 of a second, taking it a total of 1.5 seconds to react to road hazards.
The Star