The Mountain Home Police Department is again partnering with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), as April has been deemed National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. The local department is conducting its “U Drive, U Text, U Pay” campaign through Monday to step up enforcement efforts to catch distracted, texting drivers and enforce distracted-driving laws.
According to the NHTSA, nearly 23,000 deaths were caused in crashes involving a distracted driver between 2012 and 2018. While the United States did have a 12% decrease in distracted driving fatalities in 2018 compared to the previous year, there were still over 2,800 people killed in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers that year.
The NHTSA is also reporting millennials are the worst texting-while-driving offenders, as they use their cellphones to talk, text and scroll through social media while behind the wheel. Since 2007, drivers ages 16 to 24 have been observed using handheld electronic devices while driving at higher rates than older drivers. In 2018, 8% of fatalities in teen driving crashes were caused when those teen drivers, ages 15 to 19, were distracted at the time of the accident.
The AAA Foundation is reporting many drivers are guilty of a “double standard” with distracted driving. Statistics from the Traffic Safety Culture Index show in 2018, nearly 96% of drivers believed it was very or extremely dangerous to read a text or email while driving, but four out of 10 drivers admitted to doing so within the last 30 days.
The Mountain Home Police Department and the NHTSA urge drivers to put their phones down while behind the wheel. Anyone expecting or needing to send a text message should pull over and park the car in a safe location. Passengers in a vehicle can be “designated texters” by allowing them access to the phone to respond to calls or messages.
Drivers should also not engage in social media scrolling or messaging. Options include activating the phone’s “Do Not Disturb” feature or putting the phone in the trunk, glove box or back seat until arriving at the destination.
For more information, go online to trafficsafetymarketing.gov.
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