Roadways are estimated as more dangerous than ever in the United States thanks to distracted driving.
An annual campaign by the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) encourages drivers to put down their cell phones, pay attention and take responsibility for choices made while driving.
Virginians are encouraged to practice safe during year round, but especially this month. April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
“Distracted driving of any kind increases the risk of accidents for the driver, passengers and fellow motorists,” David Tenembaum, Virginia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. actuarial manager and Drive Smart Virginia board member, said.
According to the NHTSA, when a driver’s attention is diverted from the road, they are distracted, including while texting, messaging, taking selfies, adjusting the radio, setting navigation, applying makeup and eating or drinking. The most dangerous type of distracted driving is texting because it combines visual, manual and cognitive distractions. When driving at 55 mph, sending or reading a text is like driving the length of a football field with your eyes closed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Distracted driving has become common in the U.S. in the last 10 years, putting passengers, drivers and pedestrians in danger. The CDC estimates that nine Americans are killed every day in crashes that involve a distracted driver.
The NHTSA determined in a 2021 survey that the rate of drivers manipulating hand-held devices more than doubled from 1.3 percent in 2011 to 2.8 percent in 2020. In 2020, 3,142 deaths were linked to distracted driving. More than 8 percent of fatal crashes, 13 percent of injury crashes and 13 percent of all police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes involved a distracted driver.
Distracted driver-involved crashes in 2021 totaled 20,918, according to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. This is an 11.2 percent increase from 2020.
“A devastating crash can happen in an instant,” Tenembaum said. “It’s important for drivers to pay close attention to the road and their surroundings to avoid these unfortunate accidents.”
Drivers are encouraged to pull their vehicle over to a safe location and park before typing and sending a text message or appoint a passenger as designated texter. Drivers can also choose to keep their phones in the trunk while driving.
In Virginia, traffic safety campaigns by DRIVE SMART Virginia have resulted in fewer fatalities since 1995. The message remains consistent and reminds drivers to practice safe, distraction-free driving, according to DRIVE SMART Executive Director Janet Brooking, who met with the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation board of directors at their March 22 meeting ahead of Distracted Driving Awareness Month in April.
DRIVE SMART was founded primarily to promote seat belt use in the Commonwealth, when, only 58 percent of U.S. motorists wore seatbelts.
“That’s just hard to believe now,” Brooking said. “By 2005 it was 82 percent nationally. Now it’s 90 percent.”
No primary enforcement law exists in Virginia regarding seatbelt use. A law enforcement officer can act when a motorist driving is unrestrained, but must have another reason to stop the driver.
“What are lawmakers’ reasons for not making this a primary offense?” Justin Pence, a VFBF board member from Shenandoah County, said.
Government overreach, Brooking said, is a concern for some.
“They don’t want to legislate inside the vehicle in general,” she said. She added that racial profiling has been voiced as a concern as well.
“But seatbelts are your most valuable defense against an impaired or distracted driver,” Brooking said. “In Virginia, we’re up 2 percent in traffic fatalities, and 45 percent of them were unrestrained.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Brookings said that speeding has also become an issue.
“We speculate there were fewer people on the road during COVID, and there were fewer impediments to get where you’re going,” she said. “And we didn’t see as much law enforcement on the roads for a number of reasons.”
“Buckle Up, Phone Down” is DRIVE SMART Virginia’s message for Distracted Driving Month. Handheld phone use by drivers in Virginia is now prohibited by law.
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Rebecca Barnabi
