April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month

The North Dakota Safety Council partners with the National Safety Council to help bring awareness to North Dakota drivers about the dangers of distracted driving.

“This April, join the North Dakota Safety Council and JUST DRIVE. We need to stop trying to multitask. Make your focus driving, the rest can wait. Your safety and the safety of others cannot.”

Distracted driving is one of the fastest growing safety issues on roadways today. Thousands of people are killed and hundreds of thousands more are seriously injured in distracted driving crashes each year. Distraction is more than just taking your eyes off the road. Distracted driving also includes taking your hands off the wheel or taking your mind off driving. Distracted driving takes on many forms; however, texting is one of the most common across the nation.

Examples of Distracted Driving are:

  • Texting or using an app on your phone
  • Changing the radio/selecting music
  • Waving to other people on the road
  • Passengers in your vehicle
  • Talking on your cellphone – even if it’s hands-free
  • Eating while driving
  • Using a GPS
  • Grooming

Here’s a simple way to think about it: if something requires your hands, your eyes, or your attention while driving, it’s a distraction. Distracted driving isn’t just risky for you, it can be deadly for every nearby driver and pedestrian.

Top 5 Tips to Avoid Distractions While Driving

  1. Silence your cell phone, turn off the vibration mechanism, and your notifications. The less you hear your phone, the less tempted you’ll be to respond while driving.
  2. Designate a texter. Ask your passenger to handle tasks such as texting, placing a call or reprogramming your GPS.
  3. Ask family, friends, and colleagues to respect your drive. Set cellphone boundaries and politely ask to not be contacted during your hours of commute.
  4. Place your phone in the glove compartment of your vehicle. The saying, “out of sight, out of mind” can be applied here. Wait until you’re at your destination to check messages.
  5. Download an app. Get some technological help to stop texting while driving. Download your favorite distraction-free app and forget the distractions while you drive.

Commit to Driving Distraction-Free

Take and share the pledge below with your loved ones:

  • I will make our roads safer for everyone by avoiding all forms of distracted driving.
  • I will speak up when others are distracted to protect myself and all other road users.

“We encourage every North Dakotan to use April as a time to double down on their commitment to driving distraction-free. Distracted driving is a risk that will affect your family and your friends. Take the time to value people’s lives. Drive distraction-free.”

The NDSC has materials you can download to help support your team this Distraction Free Driving Awareness Month. Download FREE Materials here.

Your first incident is too late to be thinking about driver safety. When you are behind the wheel, #JustDrive! Keep your attention to where it belongs – on the road.

Sources:

Visions Zero: https://visionzero.nd.gov/strategies/DistractedDriving/

National Safety Council: https://www.nsc.org/road/distracted-driving-awareness-month