April was Safe Driving Awareness Month, and we posted lots of important information throughout. This is our final presentation on the topic, and we hope you find it useful. Please feel free to download and share - help spread the word, keep our roads safe for everyone!

1. SAFE DRIVING
AWARENESS MONTH 2019

2. CONTENTS
03 Driving Readiness
04 What is Distracted Driving?
05 Risk Factors for Youth Drivers
06 Cell Phone Use While Driving
07 The Myth of Multitasking
09 Exceptions: When It’s OK to Call
10 Distracted Driving and the Law
11 Personal Responsibility

3. DRIVING READINESS
EVERYONE SHOULD BE MENTALLY, PHYSICALLY
READY TO DRIVE.
READINESS MEANS MORE THAN “I HAVE MY
LICENSE.” IT MEANS…
I am free of distractions
I am awake and alert
I am aware that driving is a privilege, and can be
dangerous if I’m not prepared
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2
3

4. WHAT IS DISTRACTED DRIVING?
THREE TYPES OF DISTRACTED DRIVING
VISUAL
Takes your eyes
off the road
MANUAL
Takes your hands
off the wheel
COGNITIVE
Takes your mind
off the task at hand
DISTRACTION
Something that distracts :
an object that directs one's attention
away from something else.
DISTRACTED DRIVING
Distracted driving is driving while engaged in
anything that takes attention from the primary
tasks of navigating the vehicle.
Any distraction can
endanger drivers’ safety,
but TEXTING is
particularly dangerous
since it combines all
three distraction types.

5. YOUNG DRIVERS FACE THE
MOST RISK
#1 CAUSE OF DEATH
IN TEENAGERS
• Teen drivers 16-19 years old are 3x more likely than any
other group to be involved in a fatal crash
• Drivers in their 20s account for 27% of all fatal crashes
Globally, 1.4 million people die in car accidents each year

6. CELL PHONE USE WHILE DRIVING
WHETHER TEXTING OR USING HANDS-FREE
CHAT, CELL PHONES ARE A DISTRACTION.
77.4%
of drivers say
phone use
while driving is
a serious
threat to safety
80%
of drivers state
that this is
dangerous and
unacceptable
CELL PHONES ARE INVOLVED IN 1.6
MILLION CAR ACCIDENTS PER YEAR
IN THE UNITED STATES, CAR ACCIDENTS RESULT IN:
3.9MM
Visits to
emergency
room
42.9%
visits by ambulance,
twice as high as for
other visits
$ $230.6
BILLION
In costs.
5.4MM
Car accidents
every year
BUT more
than 30%
of drivers admitted
to reading and
typing a text or
email while driving!

7. THE MYTH OF
MULTITASKING
THINK YOU CAN MULTITASK? YOU’RE LYING TO
YOURSELF.
When switching between tasks that we think are
happening simultaneously, in reality:
“That start/stop/start process is rough on us: rather
than saving time, it costs time (even very small micro
seconds), it’s less efficient, we make more mistakes,
and over time it can be energy sapping. ”
– Psychology Today

8. “But It’s Just
a Quick
Text!”
Think again!
Texting (writing or reading)
takes your eyes off the road
for an average of 4.6 seconds.
At slow highway speeds
(55 MPH), you’ve gone the
length of a football field
without looking up once.

9. EXCEPTIONS: PULL OVER
AND REPORT
Law enforcement/911 for emergencies on the road
Report road hazards to authorities
Report an erratic driver
1
2
3
Even in these cases, make sure you are safe and pull
over before calling!

10. IT’S THE LAW
DON’T TEXT AND DRIVE, UNLESS YOU WANT A
DAY IN COURT.
HAND-HELD CELL PHONE USE BAN:
16 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the
U.S. Virgin Islands prohibit all drivers from using
hand-held cell phones while driving
YOUTH CELL PHONE BAN:
38 states and D.C. ban all cell phone use by
novice or teen drivers
TEXT MESSAGING BAN:
47 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S.
Virgin Islands ban text messaging for all drivers
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11. WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?
Turn your phone off or to silent while driving
Turn on automatic text replies: “I’m driving but will reply
when I’m done.”
Pull over for important calls
Designate a passenger as “co-texter” to reply to
important messages
Hands-free devices may seem like a good alternative, but
keep in mind that chatting while driving is still not
focused driving
1
2
5
As long as we all have cell phones and expect instant
communication, we are ALL responsible. Take care of one
another while on the road.
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4

12. SAFE DRIVING AWARENESS MONTH 2019
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/distraction
https://www.driverknowledge.com/car-accident-statistics/
https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/creativity-without-borders/201405/the-myth-multitasking
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