Main Reasons Of Distracted Driving

Distracted driving is a practice where the driver is not fully attentive while driving and is distracted by other activities. Distracted driving has become a major issue these days. Every day more than 9 people are killed because of distracted driving. Majorly these distracted drivers are either teenagers or alcohol or drug addicts.

Basically there are three types of distractions while driving, namely:-

• Manual – this is where the driver takes off his/her hand away from the wheel for some reason.
• Visual – the driver does not paying attention on the road and takes his/her eyes off the road while driving.
• Cognitive – this is where the driver is mentally absent while driving. His/her mind is not focused while driving the car on the road.

Distracted drivers are usually indulged in activities like texting, eating and using their cell phone while driving. Texting is one of the most dangerous activities while driving, as it involves all three types of distractions.

Seriousness of this problem –

People might feel that all these activities are not dangerous and they can manage doing two things at a time. This is not true. You should not do ANYTHING else while driving. According to the statistics, in the year 2012 distracted driving was the only cause of death for 3,328 people. 421,000 people were seriously injured because of distracted motor cycle drivers. The numbers are increasing every year by almost 5 – 9 %.

Distracted driving is not only dangerous and injurious to the person behind the wheel, but also to people, who are completely focused on the roads, but are injured because of these distracted drivers. All the drivers are compulsorily made to attend the driving class. The rules and regulations are taught during that course. After sometime, the drivers think they can multitask while driving, which is the biggest mistake.

Things that are being done to solve this problem –

• In many states, laws are being formed like banning texting while driving a vehicle, using of graduated driver licensing systems. The effectiveness on banning cell phones while driving is still under research and study.
• President Obama also contributed in solving this major issue. He issued an executive order on 30th September 2009 that prohibits all the federal employees to text while driving.
• The federal railroad administration contributed in solving this problem. All the employees were banned to use the cell phones or any other electronic device at the time of working hours.
• Insurance companies have also come forward to control these situations. They do not provide insurance cover to people, who have a bad driving record in the past. They also provide free car insurance quotes for people, who are interested to get a cover for their car.

The insurance companies do provide cover for people with bad driving records, but with a cost to pay. The rate of premium is less for people with a good driving track record than for people with a bad driving track record. Click here to compare rates!

By Smit Sanghvi