Distracted Driving By: Brianna Mattessich and Neil McCormick

Statistics on Distracted Driving In 2011, at least 23% of auto collisions involved cell phones – that is 1.3 million crashes The minimal amount of time your attention is taken away from the road when you are texting and driving is 5 seconds If you are traveling at 55 mph, this equals driving the length of a football field without looking at the road 13% of drivers age involved in car wrecks admitted to texting or talking on their mobile devices at the time of the crash 1 in 5 drivers of all ages confess to surfing the web while driving

More Statistics 31% of U.S. drivers ages reported that they had read or sent text messages or messages while driving at least once within the 30 days before they were surveyed 69% of drivers in the United States ages reported that they had talked on their cell phone while driving within the 30 days before they were surveyed

Risk Factors Younger, inexperienced drivers under the age of 20 Activities while driving such as texting, eating, putting on makeup, changing the radio station Texting and driving is linked with drinking and driving or riding with somebody who has been drinking

Distracted Driving Laws Hand-held Cell Phone Use: 14 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands prohibit all drivers from using hand-held cell phones while driving. All are primary enforcement laws—an officer may cite a driver for using a hand- held cell phone without any other traffic offense taking place All Cell Phone Use: No state bans all cell phone use for all drivers, but 38 states and D.C. ban all cell phone use by drivers, and 20 states and D.C. prohibit it for school bus drivers Text Messaging: Washington was the first state to pass a texting ban in Currently, 45 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands ban text messaging for all drivers. All but 5 have primary enforcement. Of the 5 states without an all driver texting ban: 3 prohibit text messaging by drivers. 2 restrict school bus drivers from texting

Activities with Distractions 1. loud friends 2. sorting items 3. basic math worksheet Discussion

Video on the dangers of texting and driving Obsession-Partial-Episode-Video Obsession-Partial-Episode-Video

Discussion Break into 5 groups Discuss key risk behaviors associated with distracted driving within your groups Share results with class What have you learned from watching the video?

Do’s and Don’ts of Driving With your group, draw 2 columns for the “dos and don’ts” of driving Discuss the lists Why is it important to educate the public about safety issues of driving?

Public Service Announcement Project 5 groups Create a public service announcement poster using one of these topics: Impaired driving (DUI) Texting and driving Seat belts Eating and driving Speeding

What is Being Done? Many states are enacting laws—such as banning texting while driving, or using graduated driver licensing systems for teen drivers—to help raise awareness about the dangers of distracted driving and to keep it from occurring On September 30, 2009, President Obama issued an executive order prohibiting federal employees from texting while driving on government business or with government equipment On October 27, 2010, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration enacted a ban that prohibits commercial vehicle drivers from texting while driving