April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month and the Lima Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol is using it to reiterate the importance of focusing on the road while driving.
Distracted driving is any non-driving activity that has the potential to distract the driver and increase the risk of crashing. These distractions include using a phone, looking around, or simply taking your mind off driving. In 2016 alone, there were nearly 14,000 crashes in Ohio that had a reported distraction, including 26 fatal ones. The number of reported distracted drivers increased 5% in 2016 after rising 11% from 2014 to 2015. The biggest distraction category in 2016 in Ohio was "Other," which includes passengers, food and drinks. "Phone" and "Texting or Emailing" were listed as distractions for 23% of all distracted drivers, but while it may not be number one, using a phone is especially dangerous.
"When we look at distracted driving as a whole, there are three different types of distracted driving. There is visual which is taking your eyes off the road, manual which is taking your hands off of the steering wheel, and cognitive which is thinking about something other than the task of driving. Texting is a one of the most dangerous things you can do because it combines all three of those. Typically you're looking down at your phone to read and or type a text, you're taking your hands off the wheel to send that text, and you're thinking about what you're going to be saying," commented Lt. David Brown, Post Commander of Lima Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Ohio law bans all electronic wireless communication device usage from drivers under 18 and texting while driving is illegal for all drivers, as a secondary offense.
