Driving, the more you do it, becomes an instinctive activity. It becomes second nature that you hardly ever think about it anymore the moment you sit behind the wheel. While this is normal human behavior, it is not something that we should be complacent about. In fact, every single time we sit behind the wheel should be treated as our first time to drive. We should not be complacent especially because it takes only three seconds for a crash to occur after a driver's attention has been diverted.
Distracted driving accounts for about 25% of fatal vehicle crashes. In accidents involving teenagers, distracted driving is the cause of almost 60% of accidents. In the United States alone, nine people die each day from crashes involving distracted drivers. In fact, distracted driving has been called an epidemic in America.
What are the causes of distracted driving? They come in three types. They are visual, manual, and cognitive. Visual distractions are those that make you take your eyes off the road. One example is checking the GPS. Manual distractions cause you to take your hands off the wheel. A common example is texting while driving. The third distraction type is cognitive or not focusing mentally on driving. These causes can often come from inside the car you are driving, making them in-vehicle distractions.
How do you manage in-vehicle distractions? How do you avoid them to keep yourself and your family safe? Let's take a look at the following helpful tips from various experts in the auto industry. May their tips keep you safe on the road.
Mike Eppinger, Old Cars Weekly
"Can we completely manage in-vehicle distractions while we drive? I do not think there is a single "magic bullet" to make the roads completely safe. With electronics taking over more and more of our lives and the driving functions it is up to the driver to acknowledge that they are still the ones behind the wheel and must respect the act of driving accordingly. All the safety equipment in the world will not avert an accident if the driver chooses to tune-out and not respect the driving process. The best course of action is to be mindful of the size and power of your newer vehicle. When we lose respect for that power is when we get in trouble. It wouldn't hurt to take a drive in a classic car to either be acquainted with or to remember what it truly takes to drive a car."
About Mike Eppinger
Mike Eppinger is the online editor for Old Cars Weekly. Old Cars covers the entire field of collectible automobiles-from the classic touring cars and roadsters of the early 1900s to the popular muscle cars of the 1960s and '70s and beyond. Old Cars features hobby news, vintage car, and truck owner perspectives, historical reviews of popular and obscure marques, show/auction previews and reports, new products and more.
Jody DeVere, AskPatty.com
"Keep your cell phone mounted on your dashboard so you can see it without taking your eyes off the road and use a voice-activated or a hands-free device or application. If your car is Bluetooth-enabled, use that or use your cell phone speakerphone function. Anything that keeps your eyes on the road and hands on the wheel is best and safest. Do not text while driving! As of 2017, about 421,000 people are injured in crashes that have involved a driver who was distracted in some way. Each year, over 330,000 accidents caused by texting while driving lead to severe injuries. This means that over 78% of all distracted drivers are distracted because they have been texting while driving."
About Jody DeVere
Jody DeVere is an internationally recognized speaker, trainer, often quoted industry pundit and spokesperson for the automotive industry on the women's market. She is a champion for women in the automotive industry, and her company AskPatty.com, Inc. serves as the first point of contact for many women who are seeking the very best experience to buy a car and service by visiting Certified Female Friendly® automotive retail locations across the United States and Canada.
Scotty Reiss, A Girl's Guide to Cars
"One of the greatest distractions in the car is other passengers. We see the statistics with teens-they are three times as likely to have an incident behind the wheel when there are other teens in the car.
If you have other passengers, some simple planning for their trip will help you keep you focused on the road. Let front seat passenger know his or her role is to control climate, radio, and navigation. As you're driving, ask that person to adjust the temperature, change the radio station and find or give you directions.
Back seat passengers can be particularly distracting, especially if they are in child passenger car seats. Be sure they have everything they need for the ride. Make sure older passengers-tweens, teens or adults- have access to climate control, that they know where the USB charging cords and ports are, and they have drinks in their cupholders.
And when traveling with small children, give them a snack or a toy to play with while driving and keep a playlist of sing-along songs handy. If they become grumpy or antsy in the car, a singing about A Spoonful of Sugar will make the trip a Zip-a-Dee-Dit-Doo-Dah, Zip-a-Dee-Day!"
About Scotty Reiss
Scotty Reiss is a content development expert of a Girl's Guide to Cars. This website is a community of writers and online influencers whose aim is to empower women to be smarter and happier car owners. Girls Guide to Cars is a comprehensive blog and is a must-read for anyone (man or woman) who loves cars or is planning on buying one. They talk about auto design, car buying information, news, and travel tips as well.
Darren Cottingham, DT Driver Training
"Get everything set before you even put your car into gear. Set your radio station (or other music choices), satellite navigation, air conditioning, seat position, and mirrors and put your mobile phone in a secure cradle before moving away. If your phone has a driving mode (e.g. Android Auto), set this and make sure it's connected to your car's Bluetooth or via USB, if available. If you're carrying a dog, make sure they're suitably restrained and calm."
About Darren Cottingham
Darren Cottingham is managing director of DT Driver Training, a provider of vehicle training for drivers of heavy vehicles, cars, motorcycles, and forklifts. It operates in the UK, Australia and New Zealand with over 2.5 million users of its online training materials every year.
David Ambrogio, Tiger Wash
"Use distracted driving apps to block incoming texts and calls so you don't get distracted on the road. Better yet, turn the phone on silent and stick it in the center console, out of sight and out of touch.
Plug in your destination before you get on the road.
Finish any must-do stuff before you leave the house, whether it's picking the playlist, adjusting the AC or putting on makeup."
About David Ambrogio
David Ambrogio is the owner of Tiger Wash, an auto detailing company with locations in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, LA. He is also a consultant for Superior Honda, a premier Honda dealership in New Orleans. As a lifelong car enthusiast, David spends his days offering advice to a slew of car owners at the dealership while also staying on top of current auto industry trends. In his free time, he loves going for joy rides in his 1992 Dodge Cummins diesel truck.
"Drivers can avoid distracted driving by doing a number of things:
Turn it off and put it out of sight. Avoid the temptation of checking texts or emails by limiting your ability to grab your phone.
Activate "Car Mode".. Newer phones include a Bluetooth activated driving mode, wherein notifications are withheld from the phone until the car is shut off. Activating this mode can reduce the likelihood that a driver will be tempted to use their phone.
Sync your phone's music app to the vehicle's stereo, so you're able to utilize the steering wheel controls to change music. This eliminates the need to take your eyes off the road to fiddle with a phone or stereo.
Decline calls. When your phone is securely mounted in a fixed location in your vehicle, declining calls or deactivating your hands-free device will limit distractions. Pull over when it is safe to do so, to make or receive calls.
Choose a designated texter (like a designated driver to avoid drinking and driving). Choose one of your passengers to handle your calls and texts while you keep your attention on the road.
Focus on the road and your driving, and avoid distractions. Driving without distraction is step one to reducing the chance of an accident, and receiving a distracted driving ticket - so leave the phone alone."
About Melissa Hannam
Melissa Hannam is the Director of Marketing for Valley Driving School. Valley Driving School is Fraser Valley and the Lower Mainland of BC's leading experts in safe driver training.
"I'm amazed how many people I see driving brand new cars but are still holding a phone. This is a travesty! Unless of course you're driving an Aventador and the exhaust is so loud that no one can hear you over the phone, then it's cool. But seriously, if you can't pair your Bluetooth yourself, go to your dealer and insist that he earns his commission. Ain't no shame in asking for help, only shame in getting in accident because you were too lazy or proud."
About Amelia Dalgaard
Motorhead Mama (aka Amelia Dalgaard) has been writing about car culture since 2011 when a friend urged her to stop sending her texts with car photos/smart-ass captions and "write a blog already!" After keeping Motorhead Mama a secret for almost a year, Amelia's secret past-time was discovered by one of her car buddies & she has been out and proud ever since.
She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two dogs, two kids, and roughly 4 million others.
Kristin Cline, Grease Girl
"Whereas many times it feels like modern cars almost drive themselves, classic cars require a very active approach to driving. Lacking many of the safety features a newer car has, plus a longer breaking time, the classic car driver has a great responsibility to stay aware and drive defensively. On the other hand, without many of the bells and whistles found in modern cars it's easier to stay engaged with the main task at hand when driving. My old car has no radio, no power anything and a big, noisy engine-so I keep my phone stashed away in my purse, the windows down and enjoy the rumbling roar as I cruise down the road."
About Kristin Cline
Kristine Cline is the creator of Grease Girl, a site that seeks to inspire and recruit more women to adventure into the automotive world. She's also transitioned careers and is a full-time journalist/editor, heading up Driving Line automotive publication as its Editor-in-Chief.
James Noble, MyFirstUK
"The biggest distraction while driving is your phone, there are a few ways you can avoid this, you can simply turn your phone off, or you can set to do not disturb which is probably a better option, just remember that your car isn't your office and while driving you need to focus on the road!"
About James Noble
James Noble is the Founder/CEO of MyFirstUK - young driver insurance specialist that helps people to get the very best deal. The brand focuses on guidance and advice.
Lauren Fix, Lauren Fix The Car Coach
"Try to set any navigation directions before putting the vehicle in drive, if you need to make changes, pull off the road and make adjustments.
If you tend to drink or eat while on the road, choose your food and drink choices that are going to be sloppy, require two hands or potentially drop out of your hand. (Tacos, jumbo burgers, hot coffee, soup, etc).
If you are tired, get off the road. Driving while drowsy is dangerous and deadly.
Always set a good example for your young drivers: wear a seatbelt, focus on the road, put your phone away and mute it, don't crank the music and focus on the road."
About Lauren Fix
Lauren Fix, the Car Coach, is a nationally recognized automotive expert, author, spokesperson, media guest, keynote speaker, television car host, race car driver, and ASE certified technician. A trusted car expert, Lauren is a top woman in the automotive world and provides an insider's perspective on a wide range of automotive topics and safety issues. She's a fierce consumer advocate and a Jill-of-all-trades in the automotive and entertainment industries.
Jeff Blecher, Agero
"We have carefully studied the ongoing rise in fatal crash trends - including the impact of distracted driving - ever since the first spike in 2014. Since that time, we have been diligently working to develop lifesaving solutions, including co-founding the MIT Advanced Vehicle Technology (AVT) Consortium in September of 2015 to investigate the changing landscape of driving.
We recently introduced Driver360, a mobile solution that utilizes a smartphone's native sensors to provide automatic crash detection, response, and prevention. Driver360 functionality also includes driver scoring and coaching to help prevent crashes by helping drivers improve their driving behaviors. By understanding this data, a clear correlation between specific driving behaviors and crash risk can be made. Driver360 makes drivers more accountable and encourages improved performance, reducing the potential for accidents.
Semi-autonomy is coming... FAST. It's creating driver confusion, changing driver behavior and potentially changing driver risk"
About Jeff Blecher
Jeff Blecher, chief strategy officer at Agero. Agero is a leader in vehicle and driver safety services for automotive manufacturers including Toyota, Ford, Subaru and Volkswagen Group of America. Its mission is to transform the entire driving experience through an unmatched combination of innovative technology and human-powered solutions.