We've seen it all too often. Someone’s driving down the road swerving back and forth in their lane. You pull up to them only to realize they are wolfing down a number one from McDonalds. With an extra large drink in one hand and a burger in the other they have disregarded their safety and the safety of the others around them. Eating and driving is just one in a long list of distractions that drivers can easily avoid. And although teenagers are not the only group of drivers who are guilty of getting distracted, they by far make up the biggest majority. The most common distractions and how to avoid them are as follows.
1) Friends: You like them a lot, but none of you are going to be very happy when you rear end another vehicle or goes careening off the road due to their distractive behaviors. That’s not to say they have to sit in their seats with their legs folded reading a Nicholas Sparks novel. They need to make sure they don’t block your vision spots. Cars have big enough blind spots as it is. They should also be relatively quiet, allowing you to hear crosswalk beeps, horns, sirens, or any other unexpected event that can occur while you are driving.
2) Cell Phones: As mentioned in a previous post dedicated completely to this subject cell phones are a top collision causer in drivers, especially teenagers. The new hands free and texting law is in effect as of this year which try to combat this problem. Failure to comply with these laws will result in a penalty.
3) Eating/Drinking: As mentioned above eating and/or drinking while driving is a bad idea. Doing so ties up your hands and delays your reaction time to unexpected events. If you have to eat and/or drink pull over to a rest stop or just wait until you reach your destination to consume your items.
4) Radio/CD/Ipod: Electronics devices in general are a top factor in collisions. This is increased tenfold in teenagers. Fumbling with your favorite CD's will inevitably end up with your car in the ditch and the CD's smashed into your dashboard. Ipods carry with them the same dangers. Scrolling through play lists will lead to delayed reaction times and a greater increase in a collision. Plus, no matter what song is playing, it’s not going to be very good theme music while you’re car is colliding with another car.
5) Reading: I know you’re shocked. Reading and teenager in the same sentence. Although it’s not likely to be the latest Harry Potter novel, rather the directions to the place they are trying to find, it is dangerous none the less. Mapquest directions should be thoroughly looked at before the trip is underway, and only glanced at for very short periods of times while the teenager is driving.
Above all stay focused. Those two squirrels fighting over an acorn aren’t worth totaling your car over. At the speed automobiles travel, things occur at split second speeds. Give the road your full attention and focus, just like the game you want to play or the gossip you want to talk about when you get home, which is what you’ll be able to do, if and only if you drive smart.
