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The month of April is the National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. As such, every traffic safety agency and advocate, especially the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), is urging motorists to focus more on their driving and become fully aware of the dangers of driving while being distracted with the use of phones and other electronic devices.
In fact, the NHTSA, as a way to further showcase the dangers of distracted driving and at the same time educate the people about how they can avoid it, kicked off the month-long awareness drive by releasing new survey results showing that majority of the Americans still use electronic devices while driving amidst the continuous warnings from the federal traffic agency.
The 2011 National Occupation Protection Use Survey revealed that all over America, around 660,000 drivers either tinker on their cell phones or fidget on electronic devices while driving at any given daylight moment. The said figure was relatively the same as the previous year. Notably, other NHTSA data revealed that about 387,000 people were injured in distracted driving-related crashes in 2011 and more than 3,300 were killed.
The survey data, which was first revealed via a press statement from the NHTSA released today, was a collation of obtained statistics from the 2012 Distracted Driving Attitudes and Behaviors Survey and the 2011 National Occupation Protection Use Survey on Driver Electronic Use. In other highlights from the survey data, the 2012 National Survey on Distracted Driving Attitudes and Behaviors revealed that 74 percent of respondent-drivers support hand-held cell phone use ban, while 94 percent of them likewise support the texting ban.
Department of Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood described distracted driving as “a serious and deadly epidemic on America’s roadways.” He went on to say that “powering down your cell phone when you’re behind the wheel can save lives – maybe even your own.”
Right now, a total of 39 U.S. states, including the District of Columbia, disallow texting while driving for all drivers. Moreover, 10 states plus the District of Columbia ban using handheld cell phones and other devices while behind the wheel.
In line with this month’s events, the Department of Transportation reminds drivers to turn off electronic devices and putting them out of reach before taking on the road, as well as to use safety seat belts all the time. Meanwhile, every Los Angeles auto accident attorney supports this awareness campaign on the federal level, hoping that the accidents caused by distracted driving will lessen, if not fully eradicated.
In fact, the NHTSA, as a way to further showcase the dangers of distracted driving and at the same time educate the people about how they can avoid it, kicked off the month-long awareness drive by releasing new survey results showing that majority of the Americans still use electronic devices while driving amidst the continuous warnings from the federal traffic agency.
The 2011 National Occupation Protection Use Survey revealed that all over America, around 660,000 drivers either tinker on their cell phones or fidget on electronic devices while driving at any given daylight moment. The said figure was relatively the same as the previous year. Notably, other NHTSA data revealed that about 387,000 people were injured in distracted driving-related crashes in 2011 and more than 3,300 were killed.
The survey data, which was first revealed via a press statement from the NHTSA released today, was a collation of obtained statistics from the 2012 Distracted Driving Attitudes and Behaviors Survey and the 2011 National Occupation Protection Use Survey on Driver Electronic Use. In other highlights from the survey data, the 2012 National Survey on Distracted Driving Attitudes and Behaviors revealed that 74 percent of respondent-drivers support hand-held cell phone use ban, while 94 percent of them likewise support the texting ban.
Department of Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood described distracted driving as “a serious and deadly epidemic on America’s roadways.” He went on to say that “powering down your cell phone when you’re behind the wheel can save lives – maybe even your own.”
Right now, a total of 39 U.S. states, including the District of Columbia, disallow texting while driving for all drivers. Moreover, 10 states plus the District of Columbia ban using handheld cell phones and other devices while behind the wheel.
In line with this month’s events, the Department of Transportation reminds drivers to turn off electronic devices and putting them out of reach before taking on the road, as well as to use safety seat belts all the time. Meanwhile, every Los Angeles auto accident attorney supports this awareness campaign on the federal level, hoping that the accidents caused by distracted driving will lessen, if not fully eradicated.
