Tag: motor vehicle safety

The Dangers of Distracted Driving

WHAT IS DISTRACTED DRIVING?

Distracted driving is any activity that could divert a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving. All distractions endanger driver, passenger, and bystander safety. These types of distractions include:

  • Texting
  • Using a cell phone or smartphone
  • Eating and drinking
  • Talking to passengers
  • Grooming
  • Reading, including maps
  • Using a navigation system
  • Watching a video
  • Adjusting a radio, CD player, or MP3 player

But, because text messaging requires visual, manual, and cognitive attention from the driver, it is by far the most alarming distraction.

via Distracted Driving | Facts and Stats | Texting and Driving.

Older Drivers – How Aging Affects Driving

As people get older, their driving patterns change. Retirement, different schedules, and new activities affect when and where they drive. Most older adults drive safely because they have a lot of experience behind the wheel. But when they are involved in crashes, they are often hurt more seriously than younger drivers. Age-related declines in vision, hearing, and other abilities, as well as certain health conditions and medications, can affect driving skills.

via NIHSeniorHealth: Older Drivers – How Aging Affects Driving.

Don’t be a Dummy – Use a Safety Belt in the Back Seat

People sitting in back seat should use safety belts for the same reasons they should use them in the front seat: to reduce serious injuries and fatalities in a crash. Lap and shoulder belts reduce the risk of fatal injury by 44 percent among back-seat outboard occupants in passenger cars and 73 percent among back-seat outboard occupants of vans and SUVs. In a frontal crash, drivers and front-seat passengers are at increased risk of injury from unbelted back-seat passengers, and in a side-impact crash, passengers sitting adjacent to unbelted passengers are at increased risk of injury. Exposure to unbelted occupants increases the risk of injury or death to other occupants in the vehicle by 40 percent.

via IIHS-HLDI.

Seat Belts Save Lives

Although safety belt usage continues to increase, many groups of people, especially teens, still are not buckling up. In 2009, 67 percent of the passenger vehicle occupants ages 13 to 15 killed in motor vehicle crashes were not using restraints – the highest percentage out of all age groups. Keep your family safe by always buckling up and setting an example that will have a lasting impact on your children.

via Motor Vehicle Safety – Distracted Driving, Teen Driving, Aggressive Driving.