Drive2Life: Being Safe in the Car.

Have you ever been in the passenger seat and been uncomfortable? What did you do? Did you just stay quiet or did you say something?  

Sometimes it is hard to say something when you are under pressure, but if you go about it the right way it isn't so hard!

Let's think of two scenarios....

You are in the car with a friend and they are texting while driving. What do you do?

You are in the car with an adult, like you mom, and they are texting while driving. What do you do?

Most likely you would go about these two things different ways because teenagers and adults listen to things in different ways.

Here are some good ways to encourage a teenager to drive safely....

• Offer and Option: Offer a safe solution, like answering your friend's phone for them if they're driving.
• Use Humor: Make a joke- just be sure you safe-driving message gets across.
• Find a Friend: Get your friends on board with supporting safe driving and speak up together. 

Here are some good ways to encourage an adult to drive safely...

• Just ask: Make it simple- ask the driver to drive safely and tell them they should concentrate.
• State a fact: Give a safe solution to your concern, and then back it up with a fact about distracted driving.

And for both of these if no one will listen and you are still uncomfortable then just Walk Away. If you're uncomfortable and can't change the situation, then get out of it. Don't get in the car with people who drive unsafely.

Drive2Life: Poll Reflection.

In the research I have been doing about distracted driving I have discovered how much my closest family drives while being dangerously distracted, whether the distraction is texting, talking on the phone, or even eating.

What surprised me the most is how distracting just talking in the phone is. It is said that using a cell phone while driving- whether it's handheld or hands free- delays a driver's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit and that driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37%. Really be honest... how often do you talk on the phone when you're in the car? For most people I know it's about every single time. I never realized, until now, how dangerous that actually is.

I also learned that I should really tell someone when they are doing something that they should not be doing while they are driving. Statistically 40% of all American teens say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put people in danger and that about half of those teenagers didn't say anything about, but I know now that I should speak up!

Drive2Life: How does Distraction Effect you?

For this activity me, my mom, and my dad all had to complete a task, ours was counting 85 cents, then we had to do the same thing with a distraction, we wrote a text that said "On my way, be there in 15 minutes." and both times we had to time it. Here are the results...

Me: Time Without Distraction- 17.25 seconds
        Time With Distraction- 30.88 seconds

Mom: Time Without Distraction- 23.03
           Time With Distraction- 40.00

Dad: Time Without Distraction- 19.1
         Time With Distraction- 59.06     <<<<< my dads a slow texter ;)

This activity showed how hard it was to focus on both things at one time and how long you are looking away from what you are supposed to be doing and all the same things apply when you do something like this while you're driving.

Th next activity I had to time how long it took me to do something, I timed how long it took me to send a text & it took me one minute, then i had to see how far I would drive in one minute going a certain speed.

30 mph: 1/2 of a mile
45 mph: 3/4 of a mile
60 mph: 1 of a mile

This activity shows how long you are really looking away from the road when you do something like send a text message. And if that still doesn't show you enough then think about this... As you can see you would go one mile traveling 60 miles per hour, so how long is a mile? 17 and a half football fields. You just drove 17 and a half football fields without looking at the road. That's A LONG TIME! Plus, as you can see even if you are going slow, 30 mph, you still drive half a mile... about 8 football fields.

Drive2Life: Key Facts and Statistics.

Key Facts and Statistics.

In 2010, 3092 people were killed in crashes involving driver distraction, and an estimated 416,00 were injured.

13% of fatalities caused by distracted driving crashes in 2010 involved at least one driver using a cell phone.

18% of injury crashes in 2010 involved reports of distracted driving.

In June 2012, more than 184 billion text messages were sent or received in the US.

Teen drivers are more likely than other age groups to be involved in fatal crashes where distraction is reported, In 2010 11% of drivers under 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted; 19% were distracted by the use of cell phones.

40% of all American teens sat they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put people in danger,

Drivers who use handheld devices are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.

Text messaging creates a crash risk 23 times greater than driving while not distracted.

Sending or receiving a text takes a drivers eyes of the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, the equivalent-at 55 mph- of driving the length of an entire football field blind.

Headset cell phone use is not substantially safer than handheld use.

Using a cell phone while driving- whether it's handheld or hands-free- delays a driver's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit.

Driving while sing a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37%.

Source: http://www.distraction.gov/

Drive2Life

Drive 2 Life

There are going to be some new posts here shortly about distraction while driving. This is because I am participating in a public service announcement for distractions while driving, such as texting, talking on the phone, eating, putting on make-up, etc. and what we can do to prevent them.