The Dangers of Distracted Driving.

The Dangers of Distracted Driving.

A few weeks back, I posted a blog here that covered the facts about auto accidents in the United States. Of course, as a Doctor of Chiropractic, a large share of my patients come to me because they’ve suffered an injury in a car crash. So, I take a particular interest in helping expose just how safe – or endangered – we are on the roads.

Apparently, a lot of you saw and read that blog, as it led to many questions, inquiries, and appointments by people who have been in an auto accident or are suffering from the lingering effects, themselves.

One topic that keeps coming up, that I didn’t delve into enough in the first blog, is the issue of distracted driving. While we call it “distracted driving,” a more accurate description may just be “texting and driving.” Doing just that (or using smartphones to call, dial, check social media, etc.) has reached epidemic proportions among drivers in the U.S., leaving a wake of injuries and tragedies in its path.

Therefore, I’m going to talk about distracted driving today.

First, let’s look at the brutal and bloody statistics about distracted driving:

• Every day in the U.S., at least 660,000 motorists are driving while distracted.
• Last year, there were 4,898 fatal crashes that involved some sort of distraction.
• 867 of them. – or about 17% – were caused by drivers either talking, dialing, texting, or checking social media on their cell phone.
• And 16% of all fatal crashes involving a teenage driver were caused by distractions – or about one in six.
• In fact, the moment any driver takes out his or her cell phone, their chance of being in accident shoots up by 400% (4x more likely).
• And if you’re texting while driving, your risk of being in accident skyrockets by 2,300% percent (23x more likely!)
• Analysts now think that about 28% of all roadway accidents are caused by people texting or using their cell phones while they’re operating a motor vehicle – or more than one in every four crashes!

When it comes to what distracts us, there are also some major differences based on gender.

For men, the top driving distractions include:

• 18.3% Road rage
• 14.7% Eating and drinking while driving
• 10.9% Checking out other drivers
• 9.8% Kids in the car
• 9.5% Conversations with passengers
• 9.3% Reading the paper (what?!)
• 7.6% Texting
• 7.1% Radio/music
• 4.2% Trying to navigate
• 4% Bad weather
• 3.2% Shaving (again: what?!)

How about the corresponding list of driving distractions for women?

• 26.3% Kids in the car
• 16.6% Putting on makeup
• 10.4% Music/Radio
• 9.5% Navigation
• 8.4% Avoiding bad weather
• 7.1% Passenger distractions
• 4.2% Texting
• 2.4% Road rage

It seems men are easily distracted by their own anger (road rage), chowing down on a quick meal, checking out other drivers – and definitely need to put down the newspaper and their electric shaver!

Women, on the other hand, are far more susceptible to having their attention diverted by children in the car, looking for directions, bad weather – and need to put down the makeup!

Researchers and psychologists break it down even further. They’ve differentiated three separate classifications of distractions while were driving:

• Manual distractions cause your hand to move off the steering wheel.
• Visual distractions cause your eyes to deviate from the road or the cars in front of/around you.
• Lastly but no less important, cognitive distractions pull your mind’s focus away from the task at hand.

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There’s not much I can do to prevent auto accidents (other than educate and raise awareness), but once people have been injured in a crash, there is a lot that I can do to help.

In fact, making an appointment with my office should be one of the very first things you do after you’ve been in a car accident, whether you think you’re ok or now. However, all too often, injuries caused by auto accidents go unreported, are misdiagnosed, and are not treated correctly.

So, if you’ve been in an accident -even if it occurred months or years ago – come see me! You may be surprised how much chiropractic care helps.

Please buckle up, put down the phone, and be safe out there!